


Druk'ed Up

by RadioactiveRoulette



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Bloodbending (Avatar), Plot Driven by Badgerfrog, Unconventional bending, awkward humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-29 00:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 35,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11429670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadioactiveRoulette/pseuds/RadioactiveRoulette
Summary: What would happen if Zuko had been united with Druk far earlier in the story? What if he found him just as he was trying to make a good impression on The Gaang? This will be a retelling of some events throughout A!TLA but major nonchanging plot points will be glossed over to leave room to focus on the changes.





	1. Badgerfrogs aren't the best conversationalists.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caitsidhe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitsidhe/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Amazing Zuko Fic Idea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9538223) by [Caitsidhe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitsidhe/pseuds/Caitsidhe). 



> All Avatar The Last Airbender characters and major plot points are not my intellectual property, I'm just plot-bending to suit my dark fantasies. This fic owes its existence to Caitsidhe and her phenomenal plot baby that I adopted. Make sure you go take a look at that work if you want to see the general arc this fic is going to take.

"Hello, Avatar. I know I've spent most of our relationship uh, chasing you, but I want you to know that I'm done with that part of my life." Zuko faltered a little, unsure of how to continue. "I really think I would be an asset to your group, and while it may seem difficult to trust me at first, I promise I will do everything in my power to aid you in your fight against my father, the uh, Firelord." Zuko glanced up, a tentative smile on his face. "I also can teach you firebending. I know how my father fights, I can give you a strategic advantage over him." The banished fireprince sighed in relief. The words were out, and even though he stumbled a bit, it was a good feeling, to have expressed himself so well. He waited a beat, smile fading. The sudden relief and contentment turned suddenly, now a cold and overwhelming pit deep in his core. "WELL? SAY SOMETHING."  

One loud croak answered his desperate plea. Zuko's shoulders sagged forward as his knees hit the mushy ground. He clawed at his stomach, willing the nausea not to progress into something much more tangible and harder to deny. _Of course,_ Zuko thought bitterly, _I didn't manage to give a convincing speech to the Avatar and his group. I barely fumbled through my confession in the presence of a badgerfrog._

  _Croak._

He wrapped his arms around himself, ignoring the interruption. Zuko rocked himself back and forth on his heels, muttering.  _What does that mean for me, when I really confront them?_ Zuko willed himself to stop rocking, and berated himself.  _It might help if you didn't think of it as a confrontation. Kinda sends the wrong message._ The scowl that settled on his face was far more familiar than this sensation of unease.

  _Croak._  

As the nausea threatening him subsided somewhat and his anxiety started to release its hold on him, he glared up through his shaggy bangs at the badgerfrog.  
"I don't need judgment from you." 

_Croak._

 Zuko stared at the creature for a solid minute, temper threatening to rise, nausea all but forgotten.  
"What would a stupid amphibian know about honor, anyway!" He yelled with fists balled at his sides, flames licking over his knuckles. 

_Croak._  

Zuko closed his eyes, slumping fully onto the soggy ground, the fire in his fists flickering out as suddenly as it had sprung to life.  
"Yeah, you're right. Probably more than me." 

_Croak._  

He covered his face with the crook of his arm, ignoring the self-satisfied tone the frog had adopted with that last croak.  
"I have to make up for what I've done. I've spent years chasing my honor, just to realize I never had it in the first place."

  _Croak._  

"Well, at least you're impartial. You don't exactly have a nationality, do you?" 

_Croak._ _Croak._

_"_ I'm going to be honest, I don't know how to take that." Zuko forced himself back in a sitting position, fingers massaging his head. He laughed, humorlessly. "I'm the banished heir to the fire nation throne, sitting in the middle of a swamp, above an upside-down air temple, looking to be consoled by a fucking badgerfrog. I'm losing my Agni-cursed mind."

...

Zuko looked back up at where the badgerfrog had been. His councilor had apparently decided that their session was over, and was nowhere in sight. The ex-prince sighed, for no one's benefit but his own. He stood wearily, and began to gather firewood for the night. In the morning, he would go and subject himself to the judgment of the avatar and his supporters. For now, he needed warmth and rest.  


	2. Public Speaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko fails at public speaking. We brace for it. It still makes us cringe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, yeah I know you're here for Druk.  
> Listen.  
> I have a lot of character set up I want to do before that, but relax, it's written.

"NO." Katara growled, arms crossed in front of her chest. "You will NOT be joining our group. You will not be sabotaging our war effort. You will NOT be taking Aang." She snorted, eyes like slits as she glared at Zuko.  

Zuko rubbed a hand down face, brow contorted in frustration as he tried to calm himself from his knee-jerk response. "I don't want to take the Avatar anywhere! I wish to help him defeat my father." His hand fell to the back of his neck, rubbing the knot that was developing there. "I am not asking for your trust, keep me under lock and key, If you wish. I willingly submit as the Avatar's prisoner." With this, Zuko dropped to his knees arms outstretched to be shackled, staring imploringly up at the Avatar's face. "I merely want to help, and atone for the sins I have committed the past three years. I can teach you how to bend fire, Aang." Zuko heard the desperation in his voice, and clenched his jaw to still the wince threatening to form.

Aang watched the Prince carefully, but before he could respond Katara laughed mercilessly. "NO. You deserve no honor, no atonement, and no understanding from anyone here. You have ripped our lives to shreds with your war, and I can't wait to watch you suffer on the sidelines." Zuko blanched slightly, raising his hands and waving them in defense of himself, but Katara wouldn't allow it. "You think you can come in here, give us some awkward excuse of how you want to make the world right again,  _ADMIT TO_ _SICCING_ _A_ _TELEKINETIC_ _ASSASSIN ON US_ , and have us accept you?  How stupid do you think we are? Leave,  _Prince_ _._ You will never be welcome here. We will never allow you to be part of this." She gestured to the group behind her. They were all staring at the two benders, eyes wide with shock as their normally cheerful healer laid into the banished prince.  Katara glared at Zuko. Fueled by the silence of the crowd, she allowed her anger to radiate, crashing over him like waves before she quietly added

"I will never make the mistake of trusting you again." 

The banished prince flinched, struck by her words as painfully as if she had hit him with her water whip.  He lowered his head, nodding tightly, and stood, forcing himself into a stiff formal bow.

A sudden scuttling sound and a gentle tug on the leg of his pants had the firebender looking down, keeping Zuko from making a dramatic exit. A flying lemur looked up at him, eyes wide and curious. The creature scrambled up his pants leg, even as Zuko struggled to gently shake him off. The banished prince looked up at The Gaang in slight terror, but was met with raised eyebrows and smug looks. Forcing himself to calm, Zuko stopped hopping around and allowed the lemur to continue its ascent. It crawled quickly up and perched on his head, sniffing briefly before settling into a tight sleepy curl, tail dangling over the firebender's face. Zuko tried focusing on the tail, eyes crossing slightly with his efforts. A sudden snort from in front of him quickly drew his attention back to the situation at hand.

Sokka burst out in laughter, snorting occasionally. "Nice crown, jerkbender." The tribesman wiped imaginary tears from his face. "I'll tail this one for years." 

Zuko scowled, reaching up to extricate himself from the lemur's grasp. He shoved the bundle roughly into the Avatar's arms before turning quickly to stomp off. As he began to walk off from the Avatar's camp, his nausea from the night before returned in full force. This time he couldn't blame the feeling on anxiety or nerves. No, this was shame. Shame and the all too familiar sensation of failure. Eyes pinched closed and jaw locked to prevent the reappearance of his meager breakfast, he continued his slow, deliberate retreat, only to be startled as a full gust of hot air hit him square in the face.  _How fitting an end_ _, killed by the Avatar. I didn't think he had it in him._ Zuko couldn't help the thoughts that shot to the forefront of his mind. _Maybe_ _father was_ _right, these people have no more honor than me._ Zuko gritted his teeth, forcing the thoughts down. He was trying to change. Another gust of hot air hit him straight on, and he swallowed his nerves, looking straight up into the eyes of his demise. He was only slightly startled to be staring into the hulking face of Appa, who seemed to be currently in process of trying to snort at him until he died. Zuko winced slightly. _Being sniffed to death by the Avatar's sky bison seems like a less than honorable way to die, Father would find it a fitting end for a traitorous son._  Appa roared in his face, and to Zuko's credit, he did not flinch.

"See, Aang? You have to trust Appa's instincts, even if you want to dismiss mine." Katara spoke up smugly. 

"What about Momo's?" The young monk quipped back. 

Zuko clenched his fists at his side, too busy being judged by a giant angry flying space cow to pay much attention to the commentary behind him. He made no move to defend himself from whatever the bison decided was to be his fate. The beast lumbered forwards, and moments later Zuko was covered in sticky bison slobber, as Appa laid a giant kiss on him. If Zuko had eyes in the back of his head, he would have seen Sokka's jaw drop and Aang's mouth twitch into a smile.

He didn't need to see behind him to feel the heat from Katara's glare.  

Reaching out, Zuko pet the bison as he moved to walk by it. At least someone was moved by his awkward sputtering speech moments before. He might not have won over the humans of the Avatar's group, but he seemed in good standing with the animal friends. Zuko forced his eyes forward as he walked away from the group he had been so desperate to join. He would have to find another way to get them to understand he had changed. He could not fail, he resolved. Two thoughts accompanied him on the way back to his camp.

_This is all I've got now_.

  _There is no dignity retreating covered in flying cow slobber_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, Zuko is the most dramatic panda I've ever written. Writing his inner thoughts and general outlook remind me of the fantastically awful poetry I wrote in middle school. Now THAT was cringe-worthy.


	3. Toph Luck.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph knows best, most of the time.

Aang, Sokka, and Katara were sitting at the camp, finishing dinner when they heard a crash from the other side of the temple. Eyes wide, they rushed over to see Toph scrambling on her hands and knees out of a new hole in the temple wall. Toph reached around in front of her in an actual blind panic. 

"TOPH! What happened?" Aang exclaimed, placing a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her. 

Toph visibly relaxed when she realized she had made it back to camp successfully. She slumped in exhaustion as her friends helped her up. "My feet got burned." She mumbled, wincing as they hauled her over to the fountain for Katara to examine.  "I went to see Zuko and..."

Katara was immediately furious. "I KNEW IT. THAT BASTARD." She calmed her fury slightly when she noticed the effect her angry healing was having on Toph. "I'm going to end him, Toph, I swear it. Don't worry. As soon as I heal these, I am going to have his head." Toph shook her head vigorously.  

"It really wasn't his fault. I sorta snuck up on him. He tried to help me down here afterwards, but I was scared." Toph sighed. "I just wanted to talk to him.  You guys have had ages to judge him, but only when he was after you. I don't know him that well, I figured talking to him wouldn't hurt. Besides Twinkletoes needs a firebending teacher." 

"You were scared of him though! And talking to him clearly DID hurt! Toph, he's not a good person, he's just trying to trick us! When he got you alone, he immediately hurt you, how can you ignore that?" Katara said, sitting back, bending the sweat away from her brow as she finished healing Toph's feet.  

"No, Sugar Queen. I wasn't scared of him. And besides, he was honestly mortified he hurt me. His heart started racing and he kept sputtering and trying to help, I didn't need my bending to feel that."  Toph kicked her feet in the water idly.  "I was scared that he would help me back here and you would immediately attack him." Katara spluttered, ready to jump to her own defense. Holding up a hand to pacify the waterbender, Toph continued. "I'm not saying you don’t have your reasons, Sweetness. I get it." Toph snorted loudly. "But you should have heard his heartbeat when he was here earlier. He wasn't lying about trying to help.  Unlike his sister, he's really easy to read." Toph rested her head on her hands. "I don't think he expected to be welcomed with open arms earlier. He didn't exactly act surprised." Toph shrugged. "Say what you want about the guy, but he's got guts."  The little earthbender chuckled a little. "Well, 'cept for with Appa. He was scared out of his mind when our big guy came at him."

Aang, sitting beside Toph, rested his chin on his fist, thinking hard. "Appa liked him though, and Appa has a good sense for people. Momo liked him too. Maybe we were too hasty earlier. I'm supposed to be an advocate for peace and understanding, and I didn't even try to listen."  

Sokka scoffed. "Probably covered himself in honey, trying to fool us into thinking Appa liked him. Or maybe he had bugs in his hair! Momo likes bugs, right?" 

Ignoring Sokka's muttering, Toph shrugged again. "I can't tell you how to Avatar, Twinkletoes. I can just say that whatever else the guy was being, he was honest the entire time he was here earlier, and with everything Sugar Queen laid into him for, none of it seemed to really surprise him." 

Katara sputtered, angrily. "He deserved it ALL." Katara's eye was twitching, hands bunched in fists. "I can't believe you are defending him, Toph!"  

Toph sighed. "Did he though? You basically blamed the whole war on him, Katara. He's not the whole fire nation." 

"HE BETRAYED US IN BA SING SE!" Katara yelled, face red with anger. 

"He was never on your side Sugar Queen. He did what he had done from the beginning. How exactly is that betraying you?" Toph was quickly becoming annoyed at how many times in one conversation she was having to sigh in exasperation. For one of the youngest in the group, she felt like she had to explain easy stuff to the older kids far too often. Katara seemed unable to formulate a coherent response.  Aang stood suddenly. "You're right, Toph. And now more than ever, we need allies in all nations. Before the iceberg, I had friends across the continents.  Zuko has made mistakes in his past, but if he is trying to atone, I think the right thing to do is to let him." 

Katara reeled towards him. "ABSOLUTELY NOT. In the short time he has been here, he's already causing us to fight and we can't exactly dismiss how he burned Toph! He's clearly a master manipulator.  We can't trust him! " 

Sokka snorted. "Okay sis, I'm going to have to disagree with you there. He's chased us all over the globe, but he's never been a plan guy." Sokka shrugged, ignoring his sister's sudden glare. "I'm a plan guy. I could tell another plan guy from a mile away. Jerkbender isn't a plan guy, he's an 'ignore the plan' guy. I don't think he could be a plan guy if he tried."

"If you say plan guy, one more time, I'm going to turn you into a Sokka-cicle." Katara growled. "He's not a good person!" The waterbender whirled on Aang. "You can't possibly think we can trust him!"

"Maybe not yet, but everyone deserves the chance to change. Besides, if he is trying and he truly wants to change, I don't think pushing him away is the best option right now. We might as well be telling him to go back to being the bad guy." Aang shrugged. "He's strong, he's gotten even better at fighting since we first met, but I know together we are stronger than he is! I'm the Avatar, Katara, you're a master waterbender, Toph is the inventor of metalbending, and Sokka is the BEST plan guy. If he does try to take us down, he's outmatched." Aang shot Katara a sideways smile. "We can talk about this some more in the morning, and maybe later tomorrow we can go try to find him. And anyway, this way we can keep an eye on him, know what he is up to." 

Katara twisted her face in disagreement for a few seconds, before sighing heavily. "I guess you're right, Aang. I just don't want any of us to suffer for the likes of him." She forced herself to relax. "I'll trust your judgment and go along with whatever decision you make, but you know where I stand." 

Toph grinned. "Glad to hear it Sweetness! We'll go get Sir Sparksalot in the morning." Standing gingerly on her newly healed feet, she started walking towards the campfire. "Right now, I'm starving! You guys had dinner without me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to address how weird it was that Katara felt like a few moments in a crystal cave was supposed to change Zuko's heart in an instance. At that point, all he wanted to do was get back home. He had resigned himself to the fact that probably would never happen, but he honestly thought that was where he was supposed to be. I think the crystal cavern scene is important, as it introduces Zuko to other ideals apart from his own, but a few convincing words from a person he barely knows wouldn't change his whole outlook at this point. 
> 
> Of course, Toph is always the best person to point out your obvious logical flaws.


	4. Badgerfrogs aren't great at meditation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still berating himself for his lackluster speech at Camp Avatar, Zuko tries using meditation to distract himself.  
> It's super ineffective.

Zuko was not good at idling. Zuko had never been good at idling. When he had lived in the palace, his inability to idle came out with general fidgeting and eye-rolling. When he spent years with his Uncle on a fire nation ship, it had manifested as barked orders or sullen silences the minute he felt ineffective or incapable.  His uncle had dismissed this personal failing, telling Zuko that he was merely a firebender to the core. He had boasted that clearly, Zuko believed that any daylight not spent working was time wasted, and that this trait was admirable. The fire nation was one of early hours, productive days, and hardworking citizens after all. Zuko had immediately disregarded his Uncle's ramblings.  The sentiment might hold true for the the lower caste of the nation, but it did not hold true for the upper echelon, the part Zuko himself was supposed to represent.  Royalty spent their time talking, idling to prove their station. Royalty was not supposed to take action, they were supposed to tell others to do so on their behalf.  

Zuko grimaced bitterly at the thought.  _Just another instance of_ _my_ _failings._  Breeding and pedigree aside, he was a poor excuse for a noble.  His early childhood had been an unending series of lessons, not only in firebending and national history, but in etiquette and social graces. He had been horrible in all subjects. His sister had excelled in firebending, and her quick memorization and recitation of the lies they had been fed as the proud fire nation history had found favor with their Grandfather Azulon. Zuko had turned to the physical arts, mastering his dual dao swords quickly. Even in his command of the blades he had shamed his father. Learning a blade was not becoming of a firebending master, he had been told. Relying on a weapon only proved his ineptitude for bending. He had tried to live up to the expectations of the great firelords that came before him. There was a point in his early childhood where he had cast his blades aside, focused solely on his bending, on his memorization, on text books, etiquette, social graces, and much to his dislike, on idling. He had failed spectacularly.  

So here, sitting in the middle of a swamp, staring once again at an ornery badgerfrog, meditating and considering his next move; the constant reminder of his past failings was beginning to drive him mental. He sucked in a deep breath and forced himself once again in a serious meditative pose, blocking out his spectacular history of failure. Eyes shut, he tilted his chin towards the sky soaking up the last rays of light filtering through the swamp. With hands deliberately placed on his knees, Zuko released a slow and purposeful exhale, he began slowly focusing his energy through his chakras... 

_CROAK._

Zuko cringed, but kept his eyelids squeezed shut, trying to maintain his charade. ' _Breathe, Zuko._ _Deeply inhaling, slowly exhaling_ ' he coached himself. 

 _CROAK._  

He ground his teeth, forcing his eyes to stay shut. "Inhale. Exhale." He muttered to himself, a small twitch developing in the unmarred half of his face. Slowly, he began to relax. He could feel the energy flowing through him, feel the

  - _CROAK-_

Tension. Leaving. His. Body.

- _CROAK_ _CROAK_ _-_

His hands moved off his knees, fingers angrily flexing in the dirt.

**"IN. HALE."**

-  _CROAK_ _-_

**" EX. HALE."**

_CROAK_ _._  

 _"_ FINE. YOU WIN. I GIVE UP." Zuko jumped angrily to his feet, eyes wide and furious, surveying his surroundings. He couldn't see the annoying badgerfrog anywhere. Begrudgingly, he had to admit the animal had some semblance of intelligence, if it was steering clear of him right now.   _I need to cool down, I'll never get the Avatar and his group to accept me if I keep getting upset this easily._ He cringed a little when he noticed the handprint shaped scorch marks on the ground. _I mean really, it was just a little croaking. Uncle's right, I do need to learn to control my temper._ To Zuko, this was just another example of his inability to - _snap-_ Zuko shook himself out of his reverie with the unnatural sound, immediately crouching to the ground, listening. He strained to hear anything other than the ambient swamp noises. _Maybe I'm just hearing things._ He started to stand when he heard it again. - _snap-_ The sound was piercing, unnatural against the normal noises. It was methodical too, small and faint at first, but increasing in volume, clearly getting closer.  Slow, steady, and deliberate... something large was making its way through the swampy landscape.

Zuko kept himself low, and reaching up, snatched the canvas off the top of his lean-to, shoving the fabric into a nearby log. Using a small branch, he dusted away the remains of his footprints, scattering the charred remains of his campfire from the night before. Willing the intruder's path away from his small campsite, Zuko waited. He could only do so much to disguise his presence. If someone were to walk too close, they would see him regardless. - _snap-_  He could hear his own breathing, between the harsh snaps, and belatedly noticed that the badgerfrogs were no longer croaking. The swamp was deathly quiet, save for the methodically approaching noise. - _snap-_  Maybe the creatures around him knew that whatever was headed this way - _snap-_ was not friendly. - _SNAP-_ Things that unerringly stomped through swamps were rarely friendly. - _SNAP!-_ Craning his neck slightly to peer over the tall grasses, Zuko finally got to see the source of the noise. _I am so. SO. screwed_. The Avatar was screwed. Not noticing Zuko's campsite, 'Combustion Man' continued his relentless journey towards the Western Air Temple.

"Fuck." Zuko breathed, after he was certain the assassin was out of earshot. Scrambling to his feet, he grabbed his twin Dao swords, and took off on a different path from the one the Assassin was traveling, straight for the air temple.

_This is all my fault._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's torture the sulky prince with onomatopoeia!


	5. Sparky Sparky Boom Man

"What the hell was that??" Sokka exclaimed, shooting to his feet. Aang quickly followed suit, bowl of rice forgotten on the makeshift table. "I swear I just heard an explosion."  Sokka cut a look at Aang and Katara, wiggling his eyebrows. "Know any wild animals that do that, great bald one?" The rest of their group had fallen still and silent, as everyone strained to hear.  

"I mean, other than dragons?" Aang quipped back. "I haven't seen any of them since before the iceberg. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't an exploding platypus bear Sokka."  

Sokka frowned, listening intently.  Nothing. He shrugged, turning to go back to his dinner when everyone heard the unmistakable clang of metal on metal. 

"ZUKO." Katara spat, "It HAS to be him, come to take you Aang." She undid her waterskin, prepared for battle. 

Aang frowned, grabbing his staff as they all tried to pinpoint the direction of the noise. "Who would he already be fighting then? We are all here, Katara." Another clang, a whoosh, a grunt. "This way, guys. The noise is over here." They all hurried towards the temple's edge, bringing another segment of the stone bricks into view. This section was separated from the main pavilion they used, and was much farther along in its decay.  

Sokka spotted the fighters first. "Uhm, Aang? I think Katara's sorta right! It IS Zuko, but I don't think he's out Avatar hunting. LOOK!" 

The group, save for Toph, followed Sokka's gesture, eyes the size of dinner plates when they hit the mark. Toph groaned. "What's happening?" She whispered angrily "How many times do I have to remind you people that I'm BLIND."  

"Combustion man found us! Jerkbender's holding him off!" 

Another explosion, more clanging. Zuko was attempting to keep the assassin on the defensive with his relentless attacks. Dashing back and forth across the crumbly platform, it was hard to follow Zuko's erratic movements, but it seemed he was succeeding in making himself much harder to hit with a charged up blast. His swords were merciless.  "YEAH, GET EM SPARKY!" Toph cheered, realizing her mistake a little too late. Combustion man stopped his pursuit of Zuko and leveled his deadly gaze at the group. The fist Toph had pumped into the air fell slowly at the sudden silence. "He's looking at us now, isn't he." She said, deadpan. 

From over on the platform the group could hear Zuko yelling. "NO. I won't pay you if you kill them." He shouted, trying to redirect the assassin's attention back onto himself. It was highly ineffective. The brute snorted deeply, prepping for an attack towards the Avatar's camp. "I'll pay you DOUBLE if you leave them alone?" He called out again, clearly hoping the offer would do something, anything to dissuade Combustion Man. The assassin ignored him in favor of his intended prey, throwing the prince back with a distracted swipe.  

 "Well, this sucks." Toph bent a wall of rock in front of the group, just in time to block the explosion that had been directed their way. The wall shook with the impact, but held firm. 

Sokka squeaked slightly, before shooting a look at Toph. "DON'T GET THE CRAZY COMBUSTION MAN'S ATTENTION TOPH, THAT SHOULD HAVE GONE WITHOUT SAYING." He glared. 

"Are you glaring at me, I feel like you're glaring at me." Toph grinned, punching into the air, shooting bits of her recently constructed wall up at the assassin. "Hope Sparky is good at dodging, hard to tell where he is from here!"  

Aang stepped outside the barrier slightly, trying to get a good shot in on the opponent only to immediately scurry back behind the wall. "Guys, We have a problem. We can't get a line of sight on this guy without him trying to blow us up!" Another blast hit the wall, and one of its top corners crumbled. Aang used the chance to peek around the corner again, gulping as he watched the assassin and Zuko fight. The prince had managed to pull the attention of the assassin back away from the Avatar's camp, but even now Combustion man was forcing Zuko closer and closer to the edge of the temple. Zuko was putting up a good fight, but it wasn't looking great.  

"I'VE GOT IT. Last time we fought him he started imploding when we hit that symbol on his forehead! Look I'll just use my boomerang and angle it off that column, should be able to hit him that way!" Sokka took a deep breath, angling the shot. They heard the telltale whistling noise of Combustion Man's attack, and Sokka let his boomerang fly. 

- _THUD_ -  

"Ooooooh baby, right on the mark!" He whooped, popping up above the barrier to watch the assassin with smoke unfurling from his nostrils as the boomerang hit its mark. "He's not too happy guys." Sokka yelped, popping back down behind cover just as the group heard a magnificent boom.

 Aang, Haru, and Katara popped up just in time to see Zuko flying off the edge of the cliff with the force of the explosion. Toph punched at the ground, allowing herself to follow the vibrations, searching for movement on the adjacent ledge.

"There are no heartbeats over there. I can't feel anything." Toph stated in a forced calm, jaw clenched tightly to even out her tone.

They all looked out at the plume of dust, horrified. Aang gulped. "Well, I think that this proves Zuko was telling the truth earlier." The monk looked back towards the ledge, worrying his lip with his teeth, eyes wide and nervous. He started to scramble towards the edge, intent on flying over to find the firebender, but a hand on his arm stopped him. Katara just shook her head at him, eyes locked with his. Aang shut his eyes tightly.  

"It's too dangerous right now. That whole area is just waiting to collapse, at least wait for the dust to settle." Katara advised, voice rough. 

It was too smoky from the aftermath of the implosion for Aang to see anything. He considered blasting the area with a wave of air, but with the already unstable platform, he decided against it. Desecrating the temple more was not going to improve the pit that had opened inside of him. He hung his head. He slowly shuffled up to Katara, folding himself into her arms and holding onto the waterbender tightly for a brief moment. Katara returned the embrace, but the hug did not last long. The little monk sighed. "I'll wait for the air to clear, then I think I will try to find... I'll go survey the damages to the temple."  Aang drew away quickly, intending to distract himself with caring for Appa in the meantime.

 Katara nodded numbly at the retreating boy's back. She shook herself out of her reverie, and decided to take charge, addressing the rest of the group. Her voice hitched slightly as she instructed everyone to fortify the area. "This shows us how unprepared we were. We need to make this a little more defensible. Toph, Haru, can you construct barriers between the open columns? Anyone that was injured by the debris, come see me and I will heal you." Nodding to herself, she set off to go tend to the wounded, of which there were thankfully few. 

    
The rest of the group dispersed, trying to find things to keep themselves occupied.  Sokka busied himself with cleaning his space sword. He attempted to tell those that would listen the puns that he had come up with while fighting Combustion Man, but his voice broke a little, shattering his bravado. Those listening to his attempted levity steadfastly ignored how he didn't laugh at his own jokes, nodding encouragingly for him to continue.  Toph and Haru began their fortification of the main pavilion, and if anyone noticed either one of them stomping a little too forcefully to just be erecting walls, no one said a word about it.  


	6. Firebend don't Firebreak.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko deals with the aftermath of fighting Combustion Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The violence and injuries ramp up in these next few chapters. I don't like people getting hurt nonsensically, but I doubt he would come out of a close proximity explosion without some injuries, internally and externally.

Across the small chasm, Zuko groaned in pain, trying to decide if he should be putting pressure over the stabbing sensation radiating from his side with every breath, or if he should be more concerned with the arm he could only partially feel. He had come-to lying on his back, entire body screaming at him to just fall asleep right there.  _Father would appreciate it if you died quickly like a good little prince, ZuZu._ He wasn't sure where the thought came from, or why it sounded like his sister, but he was certain if his father wanted him to do it, it was probably the exact thing he shouldn't do. Grunting, Zuko tried to focus through the twinging pains, discovering new ones with every slight movement. After a few short moments, Zuko was able to analyze his injuries.  Brow furrowed, he held up his right arm, a pathetic whimper escaping him. The arm wouldn't move completely right, and he had to turn his head to fully appreciate the sight.  One of the bones of his forearm had poked through the skin a little with the surrounding skin covered in plenty of blood. _That's wrong, that needs to be inside._ The elbow wasn't responding to the commands he was trying to give it, he could only wiggle the arm as a whole from violently shaking his shoulder joint. _That hurts._  He frowned.  _Well,_ _this sucks_ _._  Coughing from the dust in the air, he turned over and tugged his shirt off, using his good arm. He had no idea how he had survived that encounter. When he went flying off the edge, he had been fairly certain he was done for. Somehow he had managed to grab a free-hanging tree root, twisting it quickly around his now broken arm after he had stopped swinging violently. It had taken awhile, but he had slowly climbed back up the cliff side. Using his good arm for strength he had inched his way back up to the platform, keeping his balance using the bad, vine wrapped one as leverage. He had probably done some permanent damage to the arm, but he would take that over death. _Probably why I can see my bone nub._  Coughing again, he winced. _Not the first time you haven't thought something through_. That time the voice in his head sounded like Uncle, and it made Zuko roll his eyes.  Inhaling the dirty air probably was damaging his lungs too. He almost could hear his sister sneering. _'Oh ZuZu, only_ _peasants_ _breath dirty air, have you no shame at all?'_   He grimaced at the thought and shook his head, dismissing it. Placing his decent hand over his chest, he could feel the soft rattle and wheeze lurking inside him.  

Sitting up, he used his teeth and his good arm to tear thick strips of fabric from his shirt. Gritting his teeth, he wound the thickest of the strips around his face, to allow himself a break from inhaling dust. He couldn't remove what he had already taken in, but this could at least minimize further damage. The other strips of cloth he used to slowly fashion wraps for his broken ribs and a poorly made sling for his arm. He winced again as he folded the arm into a relatively normal position.  It would have to do for now. Groaning, he forced himself to stand, his legs were mostly unharmed, save some burns and bruises. The rich fabric was peppered with rips, the red fabric hiding any blood stains.  Zuko growled in frustration, biting the inside of his cheek. The dust was still thick, hanging in the air, making it impossible to take in the damages to the Avatar's camp. The firebender grunted and slowly made his way to the earthy ledge. It would take hours of slow progress, but he figured he could make it back to camp if he could just stay awake, but his body begged for sleep.   

Zuko shook his head violently to rid himself of drowsiness and regretted the decision immediately. His vision swam slightly, and a few moments passed before he was able to steady himself again. He willed his fire to coalesce in his hand, noticing with a frown that it flickered feebly. He started to shrug, figuring it was just due to the state of his body and his exhaustion. Mid shrug the pain caught up with him and he yelped. ' _Stupid, Zuko. Get it together._ ' He berated himself. He forced the feeble flame against his skin, letting the heat permeate his skin, relieving the most intense pains near his joints. At least with the temporary relief, he might manage to move at something OTHER than a glacial pace. He started towards camp, wincing with every jarring movement.   

He realized - belatedly - how idiotic it had been to head back to his camp, only when he had finally made it there, empty handed and broken. He took in the sight with a groan. He had dismantled his lean-to quickly earlier in his efforts to remain concealed, so he would either have to throw it back together haphazardly with one arm, or sleep without cover. 

_-croak-_

Ignoring the badgerfrog, the Zuko sighed. Putting the tent back together seemed it would take more energy than he could muster.

  _-_ _croak_ -  

The ground somehow seemed more damp than it had been earlier. Maybe it had rained, maybe it was dew.

- _croak-_  

Zuko really had no idea how long he had actually been gone from the his camp, so both were entirely possible. _Has an entire night come and gone?_  Huffing, Zuko tried conjuring a flame for a simple campfire, but only got a few wispy flickers of red between his fingers. No fire then.

 - _CROAK-_

Zuko felt his lips twitch again. He steadfastly refused to acknowledge the loudmouth amphibian.

- _Croak-_

 Zuko's mouth twitched, once. Twice. Slowly a smile spread across his face.

- _CROAK-_

Zuko could hear laughing, and spun around to see who had intruded on his camp, pain searing his body with the sudden movement.

_-CROOAAAAK-_

No one was there, but the sound, that manic laughing only seemed to get louder.

_-croak-_

It was him. The banished prince, son of the Firelord, traitor to the throne and his nation, sank to the damp ground laughing like a mad man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, maybe I'm crazy. Maybe. But I almost get gleeful at the idea of Insane!Zuko. He's so uptight and rigid so much of the time, I feel like after such a horrific set of injuries, that rigidity would be his downfall. I think he would find it immensely funny (when pushed to this limit of pain tolerance and shock) that his father and sister and enemies have tried so hard to kill him but it is yet another thing he isn't good at... dying when he is supposed to. (At least this one works in his favor)


	7. A Toph Search and Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph, the Gaang's leading expert on bad-assery, convinces some members of the group to set out on a search and rescue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, depictions of the aftermath of a fight. I try to keep it necessary.

Toph had excellent hearing. She often prided herself on this, it definitely made up for not being able to see, in her opinion. So when she woke up, late that night, she could tell something was off. Listening intently, she could make out a faint grunting and groaning.  Toph bit her lip, stretching slowly, thinking. She dug her fingers into the stone beside her, as easily as if it was mud. Opening up her awareness, she frowned. She could make out the shapes of her fellow campers, most of whom were asleep, their breathing even and slow. _Okay, so there's no way that noise is coming from camp._  She stood quietly, moving her feet over the cool stone, trying to feel for the unknown source of the noise.  Toph padded silently over to Aang. She felt him tense as she approached, but he continued absentmindedly swinging his legs over the ledge of the temple. Toph sunk down beside the monk. It seemed he was facing out towards the abyss. The grunting noise, still faint, sounded again.  Toph huffed, and thrust an arm out to point across the chasm. "Twinkletoes. I hear something, coming from out there." Her voice was low, but gruff.  The monk didn't respond immediately, but she could feel him shift around a bit, and decided his attention must be on her, so she continued. "It sounds like a person." The airbender stayed silent. Toph rolled her eyes and huffed. "Aang. It sounds like a person, and it came from the ledge." She crossed her arms, waiting for the light to flash for the young monk, but still no response. "You know, the one Sparky and Exploding Face Guy fought on earlier? Yeah. There's noise. From over there." Finally, something seemed to click.  Aang shot to his feet and swiveled towards the chasm quickly when they both heard a definitive, but very faint yelp. 

"Do you think, could it be Zuko?" Aang asked, hope filtering back into his voice.  

"Twinkletoes, if it isn't Sparky, we have a much bigger problem on our hands." Toph felt Aang draw in a huge gulp of air, preparing to bellow. She quickly snapped his mouth closed with a dirt clump. "Just to be safe... maybe we shouldn't go calling outloud." Aang nodded his head vigorously enough that she could feel it, and she allowed the gag to crumble. "I don't think we should get Sweetness involved either.  She goes all angry when we even mention the guy... but I think Me, you, and Snoozles could go take a look. I'll be able to hear anyone from further out than you guys, but on the chance we find someone other than Princess Sparky... well it probably won't hurt to have that boomerang around."

Aang gulped, and Toph could feel him nodding fervently again.  

"I'll go grab Sokka, let's head out now." The monk scurried off quickly, Toph noted satisfied. 

 ' _Hang on Princess Sparky Pants, we're coming for_ _ya_.'  

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Toph sighed, kicking a rock away from her path. They had been walking for a good two hours, but the earth bender couldn't hear anything except the normal swampy nature sounds, the exaggerated yawns from Sokka, and the occasional disappointed sigh from Aang. She drug both hands down her face angrily, a growl escaping. "Do you think the two of you losers could keep it down?" She barked out, a muscle in her cheek twitching. "I'm trying to hear stuff!"

"Easy there Toph! We're all looking for jerkbender, not just you!" Sokka huffed loudly.

Whirling around quickly, Toph poked the warrior violently in the ribs. "Then maybe you should start being helpful, or heck even QUIET, instead of yawning louder than Appa!"

"Hey, Toph. I think we are all just tired and worried, there's no need to get violent." Aang piped up, eyeing the aggressive earthbender warily.

"Worried? WORRIED? I'm the greatest earthbender to ever live! The only thing I'm WORRIED about is being held back by you two knuckleheads!" 

A short silence followed her proclamation, the croaking badgerfrogs and chirping crickants the only things the three of them could hear. Toph whirled again, stomping at the mushy groud before starting off in a new direction.  After it seemed like the twelve year old girl wasn't going to snap, Sokka spoke up carefully.

"Toph, you think maybe you imagined the noises you heard?" He idly fiddled with his boomerang as they walked on their arbitrary path. "I think everyone is upset by what happened earlier at camp, but walking around in a swamp is actually helping anything." He sniffed at the air loudly. "Can't smell anyone burning with rage and daddy issues" Sokka looked around, swinging his head exaggeratedly. "Haven't seen any posters saying 'Lost: Missing Honor, if found contact Prince Zuko' anywhere around here either."

"Maybe we should just head back to camp." Aang said, tone reluctant. 

Toph crossed her arms in front of her body, biting her lip again. "I'm not giving up looking for him, I heard someone earlier. I'm not crazy. He saved our fucking lives, Aang." She immediately felt Aang recoil at her words, or maybe at her use of his real name. He kept walking forward regardless, resigning himself to continue fruitlessly scanning the swamp.  

The earthbender stopped walking suddenly, causing Sokka and Aang to stumble into her. She hardened the earth around her feet, keeping herself from falling into the muck. She turned her ear towards a decidedly non-swampy noise. "Do you guys hear... laughing?" She said, confused. "Maybe I am going crazy."  She muttered.

Aang extricated himself from the pileup, considering.  "No I hear it too! Follow that sound, I think we found someone!" He bounded ahead of the others, following the laughter, several hundred feet ahead before stopping suddenly. A cold sensation passed over the group. The laughter did not stop. 

"Aang?" Sokka said, scurrying forward, pausing in the same spot Aang had. He gulped heavily. "Toph, you aren't going to believe this."  

Bending the earth to push her forward, she stomped a foot firmly to the ground to get a clear picture of whatever had startled the boys.  Toph felt her mouth fall open. No one had prepared her, not that anyone could have.

 Zuko was sitting with his legs crossed in some bastardized meditative pose. Toph let out a strangled noise as she felt her vibrations go up his body.  She could feel bones cracked and broken throughout his torso, her sense distorted when they met the injuries, not resonating the way they normally should. He was broken in so many places, probably bleeding from so many more. Laughing, voice rough and strained.  

"Tell me what you see." Toph demanded, arm shooting out to grab the Avatar's wrist. Aang let out a shuddering breath, but obliged, giving her the full picture. 

Zuko's shirt was gone, had been torn into strips and wrapped in various places, obviously acting as the best bandages he had. Blood dripped slowly from his hairline, traveling down his face. Several cuts, both superficial shallow red lines and deep gouges in the flesh, scattered any and all exposed skin - actively bleeding.  Deep purple and blue bruising was visible on his left sided ribs, and his right arm was bent at an unnatural angle, also a disturbing shade of purple.  One of the broken bones Toph had felt through her seismic sense wasn't just fractured, it had punctured through the skin, a shattered bone gleaming under the moonlight. Bits of stone had embedded themselves in his skin, and burned, blistered flesh covered most of his exposed skin. The ends of his hair had been singed. A sheen was visible on his skin, a sickly sweat.  His mouth was open in a wide smile; an inhuman grin. His eyes just as wide, unseeing. His laugh was piercing and unsettling. 

Aang walked up to wave a hand in front of the firebender, worry plastered on the little monk's face. When the prince didn't respond, Aang turned his nervous gaze back to his friends. "I don't think he can tell we are here." He met Sokka's eyes. "What can we do?" The airbender looked towards his friend, pleadingly for a brief moment, before going ghostly white. Aang's eyes seemed giant on his face, stretched wide in fear as he looked down at the pale hand that was locked onto his wrist. 

Zuko stared blindly up at the young boy, a rictus grin still plastered on his face. His features were grotesquely illuminated in the full moon's light. His gaze seemed to level out briefly, meeting Aang's horrified observation. If possible, his grin widened.

"Hi. Zuko here." 

 

 


	8. Firebenders are difficult to herd.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group attempts to get Zuko back to the Western Air Temple.

Aang wasn't one to get angry for no reason. He had spent twelve years with the Air Temple monks, studying to be a well balanced monk himself. He was supposed to have patience with all creatures, patience with all people. He was supposed to be completely capable of vast amounts of understanding. He was not supposed to be annoyed by easily distracted firebenders. The journey from Zuko's torn up campsite to the western air temple was, at best, a giant disaster. The group had quickly realized that the fire prince was able to walk, and Aang had been quick to thank the spirits for small miracles. Now, he felt like his thanks might have been a little premature. They should have known that would be too easy. Aang found himself quietly wishing that the bender had been incapacitated. Even struggling with a homemade stretcher through the thick swamp, or being forced to carry the prince in a ball of air would have been easier than this. It took all far more concentration and effort to herd the prince on the right path back to the Western Air Temple. He was unpredictable. His movements were jerky and unstable at best, and he would bolt in random directions without warning, mumbling to people that were not there. The fire bender seemed unaware of his company, for the most part. After his terrifying outburst in the clearing, he had mostly kept quiet. Occasionally he would grin at one of them and laugh raucously, only to have his gaze lose focus abruptly and then he would continue his odd mutterings.

It was a slow walk, but faster than the way in had been, now that they had a dedicated heading.  Zuko's wild and spastic eyes never rested on anything in particular, but the intensity from them seemed to bore into wherever their gaze landed. He only managed to scare the piss out of Sokka once, when he suddenly reached out with his good arm and grabbed Sokka's tunic, jerking him forward with a spasm. The firebender beckoned for the warrior to lean in, his face suddenly serious. Sokka complied after his heart stopped racing, only to pull back, eyeing the prince with confusion and worry. The party had stopped their trek, as this was the first time since the camp that Zuko had actively tried to interact with any of them. He whispered in Sokka's ear, grinning widely when he was finished.  Sokka backed had backed off from the insane royal, steering him in the right direction with bursts of air and columns of dirt.  Only when Aang, Toph and Sokka had safely deposited the prince on one of the beds in the air temple rooms and they had finally gotten Zuko to stop chuckling to himself, did Aang ask what he had said to the warrior.  

Sokka grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "He told me that badgerfrogs were plotting against the firenation." 

"Badgerfrogs?" The young monk repeated, dumbfounded. 

"Yeah, maybe we should get them to help against the firelord." Sokka winced slightly, putting no effort into the jest. He ran a hand down his face, exhaustion clear. The two friends looked over at Zuko, who was now grinning at Toph, waving at her with his broken arm. The prince, uttering no words, just gestured wildly at the blind earthbender.  Sokka turned a little green as he watched the man's joint wobble around in every direction it wasn't supposed to go. "I'm just gonna go out on a ...limb... here, but I think it's time that we get Katara."  

The fire prince's smile disappeared suddenly, and the Sokka and Aang eyed him warily.  The firebender muttered to himself for a few moments, eyes unsettled again, before jerking his head back up to stare at them. He grinned widely at the three of them, wobbling his arm aggressively. He seemed unnaturally pleased with the wiggly limb. Eyes manic, Zuko whispered to the room "...limb..." before sitting back, laughing that haunting broken laugh again, seeming utterly pleased with himself. "LIMB."  The inhuman smile stayed stretched across his normally stern features, teeth bared. The fire-prince's arm flailed violently at them for a few seconds, before a grimace settled over his features and his head tilted sideways as he slumped down on the bed, grunting on impact.  

Aang winced as he watched the bender's display, nodded at Sokka before immediately setting off to go get the resident healer. 

Sokka grimaced, walking over to help Toph sit the fire prince back up again. "I really liked it better when you weren't laughing at my puns." 


	9. Blood, Bending, and Bad Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara heals a person she can't stand. No way this can go wrong!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer than my previous ones, because I felt like breaking it up would just ruin the impact of the scene.  
> Please be aware I really like Katara, and I am in no way going to paint her as a bad person in this fic. I just think she needs to make some bad decisions before she can actually understand how she feels/what she can do. Ignoring power doesn't take it away, it just makes it more dangerous.

It took the Avatar a few panicked minutes to rouse the healer from her deep sleep. Dragging her behind him with the only briefest of explanations, he had left the waterbender utterly confused.  She had caught the words Zuko, Hurt, and badgerfrogs from Aang as he scurried ahead of her. Katara was at a complete loss as to how she felt, still bleary-eyed from sleep, running behind a worried yet excitable Avatar. One part of her wanted to whoop that Zuko was alive, the part she hadn't completely buried after the incident at Ba Sing Se. She had been feeling incredibly guilty about her last interaction with the prince. Clearly THAT part was not being logical.  She wouldn't tell a soul, but when she had finally finished healing the nicks and bruises from the group, she had retired to her room and sobbed quietly to herself, before convincing herself that she was actually angry at the stupid prince.  ' _Clearly this is just another brilliant manipulation by the fire nation.'_  Even if he wasn't faking, and he probably was, it was all his fault he was hurt. They had cast him out, he should have left. They had handled Combustion Man on their own before, they would have done so again. He probably was sitting in the little room Aang was dragging her towards, a few bumps and bruises, expecting a fanfare for his 'bravery.' Katara scoffed at the thought, maybe this was just another part of his ' _Please believe me I've changed – and I'll be stealing the Avatar now_ ' campaign. She would see through the act, she would make sure the others knew of his treachery.  

Aang had finally slowed down and was now standing in front of a dimly lit room in the upper half of the temple. The monk's expression was grim as he gestured her into the quarters. 

For the second time that day, Katara felt her breath hitch as she took in the mess before her. Zuko sitting on the bed, unconsciously slumped against the wall with his legs crossed in front of him. His shirt had been removed and all of the skin she could see was covered in blood, burns, or shrapnel.  On his torso, large swatches of skin were rubbed raw, some of the spots turned her stomach just looking at them. She could see at least two broken bones in his right arm, one even protruding from the skin, and it seemed he was favoring the left side of his body. A blanket had been draped around him, large strips of what had at one time been a very expensive shirt were serving as bastardized bandages and compresses. Katara bit her lip as she noticed a particularly worrying line of blood dripping from beneath his fringe of matted hair.  Muttering to Aang, she asked he bring in more torches, she would need all the light she could get.  

Before the young monk could move, Zuko's head snapped up, eyes locking with hers. An expression that Katara did not want to give name to passed over his features. He kept her gaze, raising his wobbly hand and managed to contort his fingers into a bending position, raising his wrist and pushing forward his palm. She could see the bones of his forearm jerking beneath his skin with the movement. Light flared to life in the sconces lining the walls, burning brightly for a moment before settling to sustained flames.  A wide inhuman grin was plastered over his face as he continued to watch her. Katara's chest tightened as she saw one of his pupils adjust quickly in response to the change in light. The second pupil lagged behind, contracting slowly.  

Sokka spoke quietly behind her. "Believe it or not, he looks better than when we found him. He finally stopped laughing and staring at everything, mostly." Katara turned to watch him.  Sokka's expression was just as grim as Aang's, but her brother forced a smile for her. "He was pret-ty scary, in that forest... seemed crazier than Bumi there for awhile." 

Katara crossed her arms at her brother, scoffing at him, trying to fool her audience with brevity. "Of course he did you idiot, he's in shock. I'm surprised he isn't trying to run away, or at least combative." 

Sokka sighed deeply. "He tried running already, but he didn't get very far. Never tried to fight us though." Sokka rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. "You want me to stay in here while you heal him?  Jerkbender here is a handful.... or I could go catch some sleep, if you need the space. " Sokka eyed Zuko again. "If I even can sleep, with that face in my head." The warrior shuddered slightly. 

"Oh, go rest, the quiet is probably going to be better for him anyway, might help me stabilize him." Katara bustled around, arranging the buckets that one of them had brought in. She turned to the group. "Shoo, all of you. I won't let your precious firebender die on my watch." Katara dismissed them all with a wave of her arm. "Oh, Toph, can you pull up a rock wall in front of the door? I'll destroy it with ice when I need to leave, but I don't want him to try running back into the forest." She watched Toph hesitate for a moment, but the young bender quickly nodded and followed Katara's instructions. Watching the wall form, Katara forced herself to breathe a deep, steadying breath. She glanced back to her charge. This was going to be a very long night.  

Resolutely trying to forget exactly whom she was healing, Katara placed a palm to his bare chest. She jerked back immediately, startled by the amount of heat he was putting off. Zuko rolled his head to the side,  as if he was trying to see her better. The act of lifting his head seemed to be beyond him at the moment. "Fire. Bender." He wheezed, maintaining eye contact, grin still in place. His eyes were still crazed.  Katara nodded slowly, reaching her hand out to fall back against his chest, expecting the heat this time.  

She could feel his blood beneath his skin. She could feel the whooshing pressure of his heart, forcing life into him. She could feel his breathing, weak and strained. Concentrating, she whipped a small ribbon of water out of the bucket nearest her, gently pushing the water onto his body. She felt the water seep into his skin, as she worked the lacerations back together. She focused on the big ugly bruising along his ribs first. Allowing the water settle on his side, she used her element to push his ribs back into place, letting her clean water flow through his body, searching for internal injuries. Katara glanced up at him, her eyes catching the frantic look seeping into his features, mouth tugging down at the corners.  

"Shh, Zuko. I'm just healing you. I'm going to help the pain go away. I'm trying to save you." She could see the words weren't exactly bolstering his confidence in her. _Can I blame him? Would I trust him if he tried to help me?_ The last time she had seen him, he had been in his right mind and still he had watched her warily. Now, his gaze darted back and forth across the room, casing the chamber for the best exit. Katara gently put her hands on his shoulders, pushing him gently back against the wall behind his bed. "Relax, Zuko. I won't hurt you." He laughed suddenly, the noise devoid of humor.  

Ignoring his chilling response, she continued. "Does your head hurt, Zuko?" She huffed when he didn't acknowledge her, but forced the contempt back. She could hate him later when she was sure he was going to be around to hate.  "I'm going to use my bending to see if you have a concussion, Zuko." She focused her healing towards his skull. There was significant damage, but if she could keep him awake, they might be able to get him out of the proverbial woods. Katara was good at what she did, but head injuries like this were easily made worse with excessive meddling, she did not want to chance it. This part they would just have to wait out, so she moved on to his more obvious injuries, turning her healing to the badly broken arm.  

Zuko was watching her nervously. His fingers on each hand twitched involuntarily. Katara noticed the twinge of pain cross his face as she hardened the water into ice over the protruding bone, forcing it back into place under the skin.  _At least he isn't grinning anymore._  She grabbed his wrist tenderly and straightened the arm as much as the mutilated elbow would allow. Allowing the water to wrap around his arm, Katara focused her healing on the joint. She couldn't do much for the nerve damage the sustained injury had provided him with, but she was able to heal the bones back into the proper form. Katara watched as his eyes examined his newly mended arm, flexing and wiggling his fingers more deliberately than before. She jumped back slightly when he called a tiny flame into his hand. He was frowning at the flame as if it were a personal disgrace. The fact he was bending at all after the condition he had just been in was impressive to Katara, though she had to admit, his display with the sconces earlier had shocked her. He brought the opposite hand against his once-broken elbow as he called flame into the hand and let the heat from the fire slowly ease the aching of his joint. His face relaxed, looking almost normal. 

Katara's eyebrows shot up. "Are you healing yourself, with fire?" She asked, incredulously.  

"Mfph...helps with the....nnngh soreness" he stuttered out, with much effort.  

Katara had never considered that. People used hot stones for massage therapy, the principle was a sound one. She had never expected something so, helpful to come from firebending. She definitely hadn't expected a fire nation prince to know how to do something useful. She moved her bending water back over the giant bruise on his ribs. "I can't do much about bruising. I checked to make sure you aren't bleeding internally, but you're going to have to take it easy. Breaks aren't easy to heal, and you are going to have a lot of pain while they finish healing on their own." She looked up to see him nod, eyes locked on her prodding fingers.  Assessing her patient, she sat back on her heels. "Okay Zuko, I just have some of these superficial cuts to clean and heal. You just need to give me a minute."

Zuko's breathing was evening out, still shallow, but consistent. He nodded at her and stood slowly. He walked steadily towards the door, causing Katara to raise a brow at him.  

"Where the hell do you think you are going?" She could feel her temper flooding back, now that he was relatively stable. "I heal you so you are just going to leave now? You need to rest, your healing isn't even done!" She sneered at him, watching him stare at the earthen barrier keeping him from leaving. Katara wanted to be reasonable. She wanted to be kind, but found herself unable to keep from ribbing him brutally. "You gonna bend your way out? I saw you try earlier, you're weak." She felt a little bad and amended with "You need rest."

Zuko's steps stopped in front of the doorway. His eyes were still wild, darting everywhere except her face, but his voice was soft, even and calm.  "No, thank.. you." Every word sounded like it was costing him a lot. Unable to sustain a deep bow, he inclined his head. "Won't... hng... intrude, will nnngh leave."  

Katara decided, as she felt anger overwhelming her, that there was no way the two of them could get through a single interaction without blowing up at each other. She was livid. She stomped over to him and using the remaining water from her flask on her hip, froze the idiot's wrists to Toph's recently erected wall. "Sokka, Toph, and Aang took a RISK to go find you _Prince_. You would be dead without their efforts. I exhausted myself helping you recover from the injuries you got getting your ass kicked earlier. You will stay." 

"Why?" Zuko stared at her, the unmarred half of his face twisted in confusion. He strained against the bonds, but was unable to free himself so he glared up at them. Attempting to summon his element, he managed to melt the bonds slightly, but was unable to extricate himself completely. He pressed himself against the door, trying to get as far from the angry water bender stalking towards him as possible. 

Katara glared at him. She watched him struggle against the ice shackling him to the door, and felt the urge to laugh. "You're weak Zuko. You need to recover. I'm going to help you, damn it." Her jaw clenched as she approached. 

The fire bender shook his head, panic visible in his expression. Katara showed no mercy. "I told Aang I would save you. I WILL keep you alive, _fire prince_." She spat at him. Because she was feeling petty, she continued. "Some of us KEEP our promises." 

Becoming more frantic, Zuko continued to struggle, his face contorting as he aggravated his newly healed injuries. Furious with him for not listening, Katara growled. "ENOUGH."  

Zuko immediately stopped struggling. Katara, pleased with the sudden acquiescence, took a moment to realize why he had stopped. He was twitching, eyes wider they had been all night, if that was remotely possible. Fear was plastered on his face, chin tilted up, throat exposed as if by force. His breathing had changed, frantic and fast, and Katara could  _feel_ the blood pumping through his heart faster and faster. Katara could... feel his blood. 

Horrified, she looked down at her hands, held in bending position, the flow of his blood directly under her control. Dropping her stance immediately, she watched as he slumped against the door, held up by the ice pinning his wrists above his head. As he fell she heard a sickening crack as one of his shoulders dislocated with the sudden weight of his body. His head jerked up, terror plain on his face. He was as white as a sheet.  

Katara leapt forward. "Zuko! Zuko I'm so sorry! Please. Please, let me heal your shoulder!" She melted the ice holding his arms. Her hands darted out to heal the damage she had caused, but he shrank away from her, entire body tense. "I didn't mean to, I promise, it won't happen again." Katara begged, eyes filling with tears. Zuko's features softened slightly, but he still maintained distance, watching her with morbid curiosity. "I want to heal you, please? If the others find out what I did..."  

The fire prince, who had been allowing her to come closer, jumped back at that statement as if she had struck him. His face was hard, emotionless. He shuffled, favoring his left shoulder, away from her. Hanging her head, Katara blasted the door with a sharp ice spike, and bolted out of the room as soon as the wall crumbled, face in her hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooookay. It gets better soon guys... less dark, still angsty (we ARE dealing with Zuko), and more dragony too!


	10. Angst and Awkwardness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko gets used to his sudden acceptance into The Gaang.

"Sparky really needs to work on his personality. I've met rocks that were funnier." Toph said, flopping back onto the edge of the fountain, hands crossed lazily behind her head.  

"Maybe he's just nervous! He doesn't act like he's spent much time with people." Aang said, looking over towards the prince, curiously. The fire prince's behavior had drastically changed from the night when they had found him. Instead of crazed and manic, he had become reserved and hesitant. Zuko was currently walking the perimeter of the camp, scanning the horizon.  

"OY, JERKBENDER, I THINK THE VALLEY IS RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT IT LAST TIME." Sokka called out, laughing. Zuko's good shoulder seemed to tense, as he dropped his gaze until it was covered by his shaggy bangs. The face underneath was unmistakably scarlet. Aang glared towards Sokka who shrugged, unrepentant. "Well, it is!" Sokka scoffed, twirling his boomerang around in his hands absentmindedly. "Dude needs to loosen up, he's all," Sokka held a hand up to his face, covering his left eye and spoke again, voice low and cracking "Honor is the only friend I need." 

The group looked off, watching the firebender. He had spent very little time sleeping, if the dark circles under his eyes were any indication, and spent even less time socializing. His left arm was still in a sling,  and he had very little use of his left shoulder. Even at the insistence of the entire group, he had refused additional healing sessions with Katara. He seemed to be avoiding her like pentapox, and the waterbender's foul mood had returned in full force. 

"Maybe it's a firebender thing." Aang said, thoughtfully. "You know, being that sulky."

"Nah, that can't be it. Sugar queen sulks like a champ." Toph swirled a glob of mud through the air, thinking to herself. "But all Sparky does is pace and meditate." She groaned. "It's BORING... and Loud, when I'm trying to sleep. You'd think having ya'lls sworn enemy hanging around camp would make life interesting. He doesn’t even do the sparky fire thing any."  

Aang stood up, suddenly gleeful. "Maybe that's what he needs! Maybe we should start working on firebending, so he can start feeling normal!" Without waiting for a response, Aang swirled an air sphere, jumped on and scooted over towards Zuko. 

Zuko, to his credit, did not sigh when the Avatar putted over to him on his air scooter. He merely raised his only brow as the young monk sputtered to a stop in front of him.  

Aang grinned up at the firebender. "SIFU HOTMAN! I WISH TO LEARN THE ART OF BLAZEBENDING." Aang shouted, arms thrown dramatically wide, eyes shut. After a few moments of complete silence, save Toph's snickering from across the pavilion, Aang opened one eye to gauge Zuko's reaction. Zuko watched the monk with obvious uncertainty, and maybe nausea. It was hard to tell. The fire prince gulped loudly, and nodded quickly, keeping his eyes averted. Aang pumped his fist into the air yelling "FLAMEO!"

This managed to get a reaction. Zuko visibly winced. "You do know that expression died out decades ago, right?" The prince asked quietly. Aang looked at him quizzically for a moment before beaming at him and air scooting off to the courtyard the group had marked off for bending practices. 

Zuko walked reservedly after the Avatar, shaking his head. _This will not end well._ Ever since the attack on the camp, the prince had been struggling with the force of his bending. He couldn't sustain more than a small flame, good for easing aching joints, but not great for actually firebending. He had spent hours the past few nights, trying to will the tiny flame into something more robust, but nothing was working. That wasn't even taking into consideration his still weak left arm. He had forced it back into the socket soon after regaining his wits when Katara had fled several nights ago, but it still wasn't strong enough to use.  Now it was time to face the music.  

It didn't take long before Zuko was angry again. As he had suspected, his bending was useless.  He winced as the Avatar tried to console him. "Maybe it's the altitude? That last one felt a little hotter." Aang smiled up at him. 

"I wouldn't even make a convincing match, Aang." The firebender huffed, arms crossed angrily over his chest. He breathed in slowly, trying to stay as calm as his temper would allow.

"Really, Zuko. We can just try this again later. " Aang rocked back and forth on the stone bench he had perched on, big smile plastered on his face. "You've been through a bunch recently, I'm sure you're probably still tired, when you are fully healed up you can teach me everything you know! It's not a big deal."

Zuko rolled his good shoulder, trying not to break the calm exterior he had maintained so carefully for the time he had been at the camp. It was a big deal. If he could no longer firebend -his one useful skill to this group- he was just dead weight. He had always been a dead weight.

Aang, unaware of his teacher's inner turmoil, popped out his glider.  "I'm gonna go for a ride, we can try again later, Sifu Hotman?" The little monk grinned as he threw himself into the wind.  

Zuko's eye twitched slightly but he forced himself to ignore it and began pacing the perimeter of the pavilion again, thinking to himself. 


	11. Lost: Fire. Return to Zuko.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First he lost his throne.   
> Then he lost his honor.   
> Next he lost his ship.  
> Now he went and lost his fire. 
> 
> Really gotta work on that, buddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've bastardized some interactions from the show to get some overall points across.

Aang's glider trip lasted several more hours than necessary, but Zuko was not going to be the one to remind him they had agreed to practice again. Instead, Zuko had walked back to the room they had deposited him in after dragging him back to the temple. He sat to himself, trying to breathe deeply. He could feel the familiar nausea threatening to rise up again. His breathing was rapidly increasing, and his heart was pounding in his chest. Trying to force himself to meditate, he managed to bring the heart rate down, and slow the hyperventilating. His whole body felt clammy at the thought of what he had to do. He had to tell the group, so that they did not feel he was deceiving them. The last thing he needed was to invoke the waterbender's wrath again, he never wanted to feel  _that_ again. His honesty was necessary, but it was going to cost him his one chance at redeeming himself for his past.  

Once he had managed to center himself, he stood wearily and headed towards where he knew the group would be communing for dinner.  

"I have some bad news," he began, walking into the courtyard, his voice raspier than normal due to the days he had spent in almost complete silence. All heads swiveled quickly his way, shocked expressions on every face. The sudden attention made his mouth go dry. "I lost it. I lost my ability to firebend."  

His announcement was met with a harsh peele of laughter. "OH THAT'S RICH. Why couldn't you have lost it earlier, when you were chasing us across the world." Katara continued to laugh, tears of mirth rolling down her cheeks.  

Zuko's good eye twitched, his fists clenching at his sides. He turned to address the Avatar directly. "I'm sorry Aang. I think it happened when I switched sides. I just don't have the rage that I tapped into before." 

Toph sat up, interested now that Zuko had broken his self inflicted vow of silence. "That actually makes a lot of sense, Sparky. Big life changing decisions can definitely impact spirit, and spirit impacts bending. You need to find a different source to tap into." 

"Doubt it. Fire bending is just hate and fury." Katara sneered. 

Zuko seemed to be in deep thought. "My, uh... the firelord, he always was driven by his pride. My sister is driven by her ambition. My Uncle never held onto fury, to hate. I don't know what Uncle harnesses, but my pride and ambition were always wrapped up in what I was, Prince of the Fire Nation. I don't think I can use those as a source."  

Aang looked at Zuko confused. "What about the night we brought you in? You bent fire into all those sconces at the same time, even with the condition you were in. You weren't mad, and that was pretty impressive bending!" 

Sokka popped up. "Wait, why can't we just make Zuko angry again?" He grabbed Aang's glider, poking Zuko in various places until the prince batted it away with his good arm, frustration plain on his face.  

Zuko huffed, gritting his teeth. "I no longer wish to be a person fueled by hate and rage." He turned to face Toph, more out of habit than necessity. "Toph, what do you mean a different source?"  

Toph shrugged. "Every bending has a source. For earthbending, it's the badgermoles... that's who I learned from."  

Zuko winced, glaring at the ground. "Well then we need to find Aang a new teacher. Our original benders were the dragons... and my great grandfather drove them to extinction with his dragon hunting." 

Aang gaped at Zuko. "Sozin made the dragons extinct? That's horrible!"  

Zuko grimaced at no one in particular. "Yeah, don't remind me. Part of me thinks he did it just to make Grandfather Roku angry, since his spirit animal was a dragon."   

"Wait, Avatar Roku? He's your granddad?! You and Aang are technically related??" Sokka interrupted, shock plain on his face.

Aang's face split into a huge grin. "GRANDSON!" He shuffled over to Appa, grabbing some loose hair and fixing a horrible beard onto his face. "COME GIVE YOUR GRAMPA A HUG."

Zuko's eyes bulged as he quickly scooted as far from the airbender as possible. "Don't call me that!" He squeaked, watching with horror as Aang wiggled his eyebrows at him before attempting to pull him into a hug.  The firebender yelped indignantly as the Avatar chased him awkwardly around the pavilion. Zuko finally dashed towards the dining table and cleared it and its occupants in a leap, swiveling to keep his eyes on the wily airbender. His face turned a remarkable shade of red when he realized everyone in the area was laughing at the show. Aang had at least decided he was done torturing Zuko, distractedly stroking his fake beard. 

Toph stretched back, propping her bare feet on the edge of the table. "So Sozin killed your original benders."

The fire prince eagerly answered her question, glad to move on. "Sozin made competitions out of dragon hunting, made it a rite of passage for young benders. If you could kill a master, you WERE a master, and they gave you the title 'Dragon'."  Zuko suddenly looked pensive. "But maybe there is some hope? The Sun Warriors worshipped the dragons directly. Maybe they had a better connection to our founders than the nation did." 

"That’s all fine and good, but where are we gonna get a sun person. Didn't they die out ages ago?" Sokka pointed out, gesturing with his boomerang. 

"The ruins of their civilization should actually be very close to where we are now." Zuko turned to the Avatar, a small but stubborn feeling of hope threatening to overwhelm him. "We could go take some time at the temple, see if we could find anything."   
   
 The Avatar nodded sagely, suddenly solemn. "Learn of our future with the shadows of the past... It's a principle I was raised with."  Aang grinned up at Zuko. wiggling his beard threateningly. "SO GREAT IDEA, YOU DO YOUR GRAMPA PROUD, SONNY." 

Zuko blanched, dread clear on his face.

Aang giggled. "Want to leave at dawn?"  Zuko turned to agree, but Aang spoke up again quickly. "Err. Maybe we should let Katara finish healing your arm first. You can leap over dinner tables in a single bound, but something tells me the temple is going to be harder to navigate. That arm isn't gonna make it easy on us."

Zuko paled slightly, confusing everyone around him. Jaw tense, he nodded, chancing a glance up at the healer, who was watching him with what almost looked like vulnerability. The fire prince gritted his teeth, but resolved to let her heal him before they left in the morning. 


	12. Firebenders don't fly.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Aang finally take a trip to the City of the Sun Warriors.

In retrospect, Zuko probably should have thought his actions through before lifting the golden statue from the pedestal. Something about the item called to him, called to his soul. He held it in his hand, moments before the thick goo began spreading, and it had felt alive. It felt like it was part of him. Now however, it felt like a major inconvenience, and he felt like an idiot. Zuko and Aang were pressed firmly against a grate, being stared at by a people he had been told had died out. His arms still cradled the statue, reluctant to let anything harm it. Having it wrenched from his grasp as they were freed from the goo had left him with an immediate and overwhelming sense of loss. _F_ _ocus Zuko!_  

The two benders were being led up to a sacred flame, told to petition the masters of the temple for access to their wisdom. This was not the time to get sentimental about a shiny oval statue. Aang and he were given flames and they began their journey across the landscape towards the home of the masters. Zuko had to give it to them. When it came to flair, style, and intrigue – these Sun Warriors had all of those in spades. He watched their fire dance with reverence.  Slowly, eyeing each other for support, Zuko and Aang made their way up the obnoxious number of stairs to the masters. Standing back to back at the top, holding the spark of the first flame in their palms, the boys were left speechless as the masters revealed themselves. "Oh shit." Zuko watched as the red and blue dragon spun around them, creating a vortex of color and fire. It was beautiful.  The flames swirling around him were not flames of destruction. These flames were the beginning of his people, the language of the dragons. Fire was not rage, to be channeled in anger. This fire was life. He was in awe. 

Aang glanced at Zuko, surprised to find him swept up in the beautiful show. It was pretty, but not at all what he was expecting. He watched the gorgeous creatures move in harmony, their fire blending into colors he had not believed fire could create, radiant blues, greens, and purples.  He jumped slightly as the chief of the Sun Warriors approached the platform they were standing on. The weird gold rock Zuko had foolishly tried to steal was clutched in his hands.  

The chief held the thing above his head, turning towards his people in the courtyard below. His voice was rich as it boomed out to be heard by all present. "Now, to cement what you have learned. A sacrifice. Toss aside the treasure you coveted, as it means little in the presence of true understanding. Please throw this into the valley's lava pit below. Let this be a symbol of your commitment to your truth, your willingness to cast off worldly possessions for the pursuit of peace and truth." The man handed the treasure to Aang. Trying to act ceremonial, Aang stepped forward, surrounded by the swirling dragon fire. Keeping a stern look on his face, he bowed before raising his arms high. With a burst of air, the Avatar launched the rock into the sky, sending it flying towards the lava floe in the valley below them.  

Zuko, caught up in the beauty of the display, only saw the object flying through the air, and without thinking, he dove off the cliff. He wasn't sure why he was so driven to protect the statue, but something about it called to him.  He just knew -and was more sure than he had ever been in his life- that he HAD to try to protect the artifact. Looking behind him, Zuko tapped into his inner fire, and shot a fireball back toward the side of the pedestal. He was immediately launched forward, and stretching as far as he could without separating his arms from his body he reached for the object. His left shoulder strained in protest, but he persisted. The ground was coming too close too fast, and more disturbingly, the prince was headed directly for the pool of lava on the valley's floor. If he could grab that thing first, he could cushion its fall, prevent it from rolling into the lava. Releasing his fire in front of him like a whip, he pulled it towards himself.

Zuko miscalculated a little, and the solid artifact jerked backwards toward him and slammed into his nose. His arms wrapped around the thing, curling it close. Zuko tucked his body tightly around the statue, and sent out a blast of fire underneath himself. It forced his fall to slow a bit, and allowed him to tuck and roll hitting the ground with a thud. He felt his shoulder give, but he was alive.

Unfortunately, alive didn't mean not still hurtling towards a painful death. Zuko had started rolling the minute he landed, and was picking up speed as he rolled head over heels towards the pool of lava. Trying to maintain his bearings with the nauseating movement, Zuko pushed the little statue, forcing it to roll out of the path of the lava floe. He clenched his eyes shut, preparing himself to smell the all to familiar scent of burning flesh.  

Except, the burning, the melting... death never came, instead he slammed against something very hot and very solid. Zuko peeked open one eye to see himself pressed against the side of the giant red dragon. He gulped and scrambled to his feet, offering an awkward bow. The red dragon stared at him, unimpressed.  The firebender let out a nervous laugh, and felt the warm blood from his nose drip into his mouth. The firebender winced a little. Forcing himself calm, he met eyes with the dragon. An eternity passed while they stared at each other.

Finally deciding it was done sizing Zuko up, the dragon turned its head to look at the ground a ways away. Zuko followed the gaze and immediately began scrambling, having laid eyes on the statue he had thrown himself off the ledge to protect. He picked up the artifact gently, dusting it off and cradling it under his arm. Only then did the prince look back up to cliff. He could see Aang, the Chief, and the rest of the Sun Warriors staring at him, stunned. The blue dragon was flying in circles around the group, but he swore he could feel its gaze.

Sighing a little, Zuko began climbing one handed up the cliff. A sudden whooosh followed by a heavy thud right in front of him stopped his progress cold. Zuko once again found himself looking up into the eyes of the red dragon, who seemed to roll its eyes at him, annoyed. Zuko was completely baffled. The dragon lowered its neck, turning it slightly towards the fire prince. Zuko continued to stand in front of the beast, dumbly. A low growl shook him out of his reverie, and he walked up to the dragon. ' _Agni, it's like it's waiting on me. To do what?? Get on?'_ The dragon raised its head slightly, huffed in annoyance and nodded. Zuko complied, shaking a little as he mounted the giant, fire-breathing, mind-reading reptile. It took off immediately, jostling him but he held tight to the statue, squeezing his legs tightly to keep himself upright. In a matter of moments he was unceremoniously dumped onto the cliff platform in front of a bewildered Avatar.

Aang turned towards the Chief, immediately apologizing on Zuko's behalf. "He almost died the other day, he's been weird ever since. I'm SO sorry about your ceremony. I can throw it again, if that helps." 

Zuko glared at Aang, arms tightening protectively over the bumpy, round statue. No one was going to be throwing his... thing... anywhere. 

The chief held up a hand, eyes never leaving Zuko. "The important part of the ceremony has occurred. What you cast aside, he risked his life for." Turning towards the breathless firebender, the chief continued. "What you will preserve others will seek to destroy, but I do not think the masters were displeased at your display." Aang nodded towards the rock-thing and back to the chief, staring at the fire prince imploringly. Zuko glared. Forcing his arms away from his body, he offered the rock to the Sun Warrior's leader, and was met with a chuckle. "I think the masters will allow you to leave with this after your display, if you claim it as your own. My people won't disagree with their judgement." 

As a confused Aang bowed to the chief, Zuko watched the dragon masters to slink back into their caverns. Before they sank completely into the depths of the mountains, they both turned, watching him. And then, out of the gaze of the Sun Warriors and the Avatar, they both almost imperceptibly nodded at the fire prince. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN. DUN. DUUUUUN.


	13. Don't talk about Dragon Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Aang make it back to the camp, having sworn to each other not to tell anyone about the reptilian secrets they found at the Sun Warrior's City. Aang is a horrible liar.

Three and a half seconds. It took the young Avatar three and a half seconds before exclaiming to the entire group that Zuko had gone nuts over some old statue.  Aang was whizzing around, laughing with the rest of the group at Zuko's dive to his near death over an old artifact. The ex-prince could feel his cheeks heating.  Zuko rolled his eyes, glaring at the little monk. 

"And we're supposed to believe that a..." Katara raised an eyebrow, staring at the whizzing airbender, "Giant bird swooped out of the sky to save Zuko, after he dove off a cliff for a trinket." Aang shrugged at her sheepishly as he continued to whirl around on his air scooter. "Even if I believed it was possible, why would ANYTHING go out of its way to help HIM? " 

Zuko sighed, already tired of the absurd lie Aang had created. He sidled away from the waterbender a little as he thought to himself.  Zuko had been hoping that Aang would come up with something a little more believable than 'a giant bird caught Zuko.' The banished prince would have been perfectly fine not telling anyone anything about the events at the temple, but Aang had told him they had to come up with something to explain the broken nose and the new firebending style. The little monk refused to keep everything from his friends, and in the end Zuko had conceded. But standing in front of the group now, Zuko regretted not holding firm. Aang was the Avatar for Agni's sake, and somehow his best story was that Zuko was swooped out of the air by a conveniently giant bird with great timing and a penchant for a game of catch. It was clearly the dumbest thing any of their party had heard, but no one save for Katara tried to call Aang out for it. Even Toph just listened to the story with amusement.

Sokka laughed along with the Avatar, clapping Zuko on the back. "Maybe it was a FIRE bird, Zuko. Maybe it thought you were hot stuff." He wiped away a fake tear. "Oooh I crack myself up."  

Zuko scowled. "No." He turned away from where Sokka was still laugh-crying at him with another roll of his eyes. 

Katara glared at the firebender. "I just don't buy it. No intelligent creature would save a flying fireball. Are there even birds that big around here??" Katara let out a low noise that sounded almost like a growl, and had Zuko taking a step back. "Tell me how you really broke your nose,  _Prince."_

Aang swiveled a wide eyed gaze towards Zuko, panic clear on his face. Letting his head roll back to give himself a clear view of the ceiling, Zuko groaned. Loudly.  ' _This is what I get for trying to work with the Avatar. This is what I get for trusting a twelve year old to come up with a plan.'_

"Well, Katara, I guess we should come clean..." Aang began. 

Zuko's eyes widened and he pulled Aang behind him, effectively cutting off the over imaginative monk. He had agreed to tell them about the Sun Warriors and the little statue he had risked his life for, but he had never agreed to tell them about the dragons. Zuko was absolutely terrified that was what he was going to hear out of the well-meaning airbender's mouth, and the firebender refused to be the reason that those majestic creatures might one day again be hunted. So, without thinking, Zuko found himself speaking the first words that came into his head in an effort to shut the blabbering Avatar up.

"I. Tripped." As soon as the words were out he instantly regretted them. The firebender kept his teeth gritted as tightly as possible, trying to school his features into something that looked believable. He refused to meet anyone's eyes. He winced inwardly, knowing that it could make him see untrustworthy, but he couldn't risk it. As liars came, Zuko was well aware he was one of the absolute worst. 

Katara's arms fell to her side, and Zuko jerked in her direction to stare at her. Her lip quivered, and Zuko found himself almost worrying about her. The feeling was lost in an instant as a harsh peal of laughter rang through the pavilion. 

Trying to contain herself, Katara breathed deeply. "Let me get this straight. You stole a statue. The statue activated a trap that got you stuck. When you were finally freed and the Sun people had taught you their firebending...You tripped." She wheezed. "You chased the statue that was rolling away off a cliff, and..." She looked at him, mirth in her eyes. "You tripped off that cliff and broke your nose." The waterbender snorted, too far gone to contain herself. Zuko could feel himself turning redder than his tunic. "La, you might be the clumsiest person I've ever met. How were you ever a threat?" Zuko crossed his arms, frowning, but said nothing to her jabs.

Aang decided at that point he was going to be useful. The young monk clapped Zuko on the back. "Hey! Cause of that nosebleed those Sun guys let him keep his statue, and they taught us a cool fire-bending style!"

Katara, deciding to be merciful, shot Zuko a pitying look before turning her attention on the now bouncing airbender. "Why don't you show us what they taught you?"

Aang turned his bouncing on the firebender, pleading clear in his face. Zuko sighed audibly but nodded nonetheless, and they set up. The boys did a series of fluid moves that looked more like waterbending than it did firebending. The movements were fluid, fading in and out of different stances, far removed from the firebending the group had seen before.

Katara giggled. "That's a LOVELY dance, guys!" She laughed, mostly at Zuko's expense.  Aang's chest puffed out in pride.

Zuko clenched his jaw, but with little real anger behind it. "Not. A. Dance.  _Katara_." He said, annoyed. Huffing, he tried to remove the venom from his voice. Letting everyone know how he felt about the waterbender would endear him to no one, everyone else loved her. _Everyone else doesn't get attacked by her all the time._  

Katara smirked. "Oh, well what is this new form of firebending called then?" 

Zuko glared at her for a full minute before hanging his head. "The Dancing Dragon." 

The group, all of whom had slowly stopped chuckling at the Avatar and ex-Prince's adventures immediately were set off in a wave of laughter.

Zuko, using a supreme force of will, kept his eyes from rolling, but it was a near thing. Deciding to leave while he was behind, he walked off towards his quarters.  He was surprised to find he didn't really mind most of the jokes at his expense. _It feels like I'm making the first good decision I've made in a long time, joining this group._  If being mocked and laughed at for his idiocy left him with this bubble of hope inside his chest, he would take the taunts and jeers any day of the week.  

Finally making it all the way back to his room at the edge of the ruins, Zuko sank down to the floor, pulling the strange statue out from his pack. He ran his fingers along the bumpy surface, almost seeking to comfort the object. He almost jumped out of his skin when Toph spoke suddenly from the doorway. He cursed himself under his breath. He was losing his touch, he hadn't even known she was following him. 

"Oh re-laaax, you big baby." Toph said, laughing at his obvious reaction to her presence.  "Earthbender, remember? You think I can't make my steps silent?" She shook her head.  "It's like you people forget I'm the greatest earthbender of all time." She paused for a moment, digging a finger in her ear. "So, Whatcha got there Sparky?" Toph asked, leaning against the jam. "Is that the thing you almost died for?" She gestured to bundle in his grasp.  

Zuko shrugged, eyeing Toph warily. He felt innately protective over the little thing in his arms.  

Sensing his expression, Toph raised her eyebrows with a large grin. Pushing off the door frame, she walked carefully to where Zuko was sitting. "Can I?" She asked, arm tentatively stretching out to feel the rock. She could feel his immediate wariness, and his heart beating erratically.  "Everyone else got to see the dumb thing, I figure I wanna get a look at what you risked your princely butt for." She kept her arm outstretched, waiting for his reply.  

Zuko steadied his breathing assessing the situation. He knew he shouldn’t feel this protective over a rock, as Toph had deemed it... but something in him had clearly broken. He realized he was clinging to the shiny thing with something akin to desperation, like this object could heal the damage suffered from his lifetime of hell. Forcing himself, he slowly, deliberately extended the rock to Toph. 

The little Earthbending master's eyes widened instantly when her fingers brushed the warm bumpy surface. She instantly recoiled, jaw slackened. Zuko watched her closely. Her breath caught a little as she forced her hand back on the surface of the object. Her head shook, a look of incredulity passing across her features. "It's HOT!"

Zuko, confused by her reaction, stared down at the bundle. "It doesn't feel hot to me."

Toph stuck her tongue out. "Well duh Sparky, you're a firebender. Do you ever think stuff feels hot?"

Zuko scowled a little. "Okay, maybe not."

"Okay, then trust me, it's hot." Toph grinned, blankly at a wall two feet to the left of the firebender.  "It almost hurts to touch it. Feels like it might be made of metal too." The earth bender's brows shot up, excitedly. "Maybe I could bend it!!" She flexed her fingers slightly, but Zuko made an inhuman squawking sound and grabbed her fidgeting arm. 

"Don't."

"Sheesh, Twinkletoes wasn't kidding, you did go crazy over this thing!" Toph sighed when Zuko still did not release her captive arm. "Relax Sparky, I won't. I've got a space rock, that's way cooler than your metal rock ball any day." His grasp finally relaxed and she stood, stretching her arms above her head. "Alright, well, when you're done playing with your pet rock, maybe we can actually spar, since your bending's back on." Toph swaggered away from the boy, heading back to the main pavilion, stopping only when he called her name. She craned her head, unable to hear what he said.

"...Thank you, Toph." He took in a breath to continue, but the earthbender held up a hand.

"Don't make it weird Sparky."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... yep I got nothing.


	14. Mudballs and Making Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally regaining the strength of his bending, Zuko attempts to socialize.

Zuko was confused. He would be the first person to admit he struggled to understand the band of misfits that also resided in the camp, most of the time he had issues understanding other people in general. Recently one of the exceptionally motley crew had become almost headache inducing levels of confusing. He shot a glance at the little blind girl, baffled by her.  Ever since he and the Ava... Aang had returned to the Air temple, she had come to his defense over the smallest things. He hadn't noticed it at first. She had kept a comfortable distance for awhile, allowing him his space as he and the Av... Aang had developed a training schedule.  After that week though, things had changed. It started with something small.  

Teo, resident genius and masterful inventor (as long as you didn't ask Sokka) had been working on plans for a toy mock up of the Airships his father had built for the fire nation. Zuko had seen the plans in passing once, and though he knew little of the science that would propel the machine, the design seemed sound. Within a few days, Teo had created his first prototype of the toy, and he and a young child that only would answer to the title 'The Duke' were trying to figure out a way to light the fire to allow the toy to fly. Zuko had felt a little hesitant, but had forced himself forward, telling the boys he could light the flame for them without destroying the toy. His offer was immediately turned down, as both boys stared at him and nervously stammered that Aang had promised to help them. A little put out but nonetheless accepting of their decision, the firebender had nodded to both boys, dropping in a respectful bow before quickly walking away to busy himself elsewhere. Later that evening while he was polishing his dual dao swords Zuko noticed a panicking trio running/wheeling in circles around a smoldering toy on the floor. 

Smothering a small laugh, Zuko ran over. The all powerful Avatar, master of at least three elements, the last Airbender, was clutching his robes, dismayed as he watched the toy start to char. Shaking his head in disbelief, Zuko centered and bent the flames away from the toy, collecting all the embers with the small but growing stream of fire, swirling the flame in a circular motion letting the ribbon of flames slowly fade away. The firebender winced a little as he looked at the toy, but crouched to pick up what was left. The majority of the machine was intact, even the fragile cloth of the balloon, so Zuko shot a tiny flame at the pitch container in the middle. Slowly letting go, he beamed as the tiny airship remained afloat at chest level. He grinned over at the group, smile faltering quickly. The av... Aang was looking at him with excitement, eyes reflecting the dancing flame now comfortably contained in the toy. The other boys, the young ones... they were looking at him the same way Li had, when he had revealed who he really was after saving that earth kingdom village. Zuko took a step back, hand instinctively reaching in his pocket to brush the knife Li had refused, the one the fire prince had gotten from his uncle. The disappointment and disgust directed at him by the two kids made his stomach turn, and he muttered an apology quickly before rushing away, leaving the two angry boys and a confused little monk in his wake.

Zuko had spent much of the evening distractedly over-polishing his swords, lost in thought. He had been shocked when Teo rolled up to him, dirt on his face and embarrassment clear in his eyes. "Thanks for earlier, Zuko." He said, wheeling his chair idly. "I spent nearly a week trying to get that model right. You saved it." He turned to wheel away, when his face was hit with a mudball seemingly from nowhere. Zuko's good eyebrow raised in surprise. Teo sighed. "Oh yeah." Teo glared off into the distance and was hit with another lobbed mudball, "I'm sorry I was a" the kid gave a big sigh "Lily Livered Dunderhead to you."  Teo finally had glanced up at Zuko, noticing Zuko's face was slightly red but his golden eyes were bright and laughing. Tao huffed, and smiled briefly. "You're not so bad, you know. I had you wrong." 

 He and Teo were on fairly good terms since that day and he had helped with a project here and there. Even 'The Duke' seemed much more at ease around the ex-fire prince, smiling at him occasionally as he played with his only slightly charred airship. Given that mud didn't make a habit of flying around pavilions on its own, and the fact that Haru had been far too distracted oogling Katara, Zuko had figured Toph had a lot to do with that sudden apology. He couldn't say it hadn't helped though, and it was far from the last time she intervened.

 One drizzly day, Zuko went out into the forest to hunt something for the group to eat. He was getting sick of the rice balls and fire scallion soup they had been consuming constantly. He thought about asking Sokka to come with him, but at the thought of being threatened for trying to steal the "meat guy" part of Sokka's identity, he had decided to just venture out alone. Armed with his Dao swords and his fire, he had stalked towards the campground he had used prior to being accepted into the... Aang's group. Not only was he able to retrieve a supply pack he had abandoned at the old camp, he had managed to catch six! Boarrabbits. They were on the smaller side, clearly not having a lot of prey around the temple, but it would be more than enough for everyone at camp, and seconds.  

For the first time in a long time, Zuko found himself very proud of something he had done.  Field dressing them,  he had returned to camp, depositing the fresh meat near the other cooking supplies. He turned, and had been immediately accosted by Katara. She had been all but breathing smoke at him, eyes furious... he would have sworn she was a firebender. He hadn't been around Katara much, avoiding her whenever possible. Not only was she the most openly hostile towards him, he was still wary of her more... unique abilities, and wanted to avoid more confrontation, but she had him trapped.

Katara had immediately laid into him, cursing his stupidity for going out alone first. When that didn't seem to sting him enough, she had mocked his butchering of the creatures, insinuating that he had cost them valuable meat with his incompetence. He had winced slightly, but said nothing. At his lackluster reaction, Katara had berated him for bringing them to the camp, expecting someone else to cook them, saying it showed just how much of a spoiled prince he was. He had blanched at that, fumbling over his words, trying to tell her that hadn't been his intention at all, and when he had opened his stupid fucking mouth, trying to assure her he wasn't intending for anyone else to cook them, she went for the kill.  

With much angry excitement, Katara had jumped down his throat, yelling at him that NO ONE was going to let him cook anything, just so he could finally poison them all. Zuko had jerked back, stunned. He knew Katara didn't like him; that was no secret. He had figured that after the trip he had taken with... Aang, she would have relaxed the death grip she held on her hatred of him. He thought surely, since Aang had come back in one piece she could tell he obviously wasn’t trying to kill him or take him captive. Zuko had clenched his hands by his sides, trying to calm himself from the anxiety that was busy attempting to overwhelm his senses. Before he could say anything in defense of himself, Toph had showed up.  

"Sugar Queen, you're being about as annoying as Appa shedding in my bed." Toph had stepped up beside Katara, stance relaxed but ready, not quite facing the waterbender. "If Sokka had gone out and brought back anything you would have been thrilled. We're gonna eat like royalty tonight." Toph turned towards him a little, glancing off a few feet to his right, but he got the idea. "Thanks for that, Sparky." She had quickly turned back to talk towards Katara's left ear. "How about you stop being a gumflapper, and just don't talk to him if you don't like him so much. We get it." Toph gestured widely to the approximate area Zuko was standing, face not turning away from Katara. "I get that you don't like Princess Sparkypants. I get you have your reasons. But you are TRYING to be mad at him. He almost died protecting us. You should know that better than anyone, you HEALED him, didn't you?" Katara flinched, and with that Toph had turned away, pulling a earth wall up from the ground between Katara and herself, effectively ending any rebuttal before it could begin. 

 Zuko had stared at the earth wall for a very long time, trying to figure out how he had earned that. 


	15. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko tries to figure out what to do with an unexpected discovery.

Panic. Zuko felt panic. He scrambled on his hands and knees searching under every piece of furniture in his small room for his precious statue. He had covered the thing in a blanket, shoved it under his bed, and tried to forget about it. He had been overwhelmingly unsuccessful. He had thought it would have been stupid, trying to bring a hunk of metal into the prison and had opted to leave it behind, but as panic accelerated his heart rate, he felt horribly mistaken. He and Sokka had been gone for almost a week, what with travel time and accidental incarceration. Anything could have happened to it. The blanket nest had been disturbed recently, no doubt in his extended absence. Trying to even his breathing, Zuko sat back on his heels. He had hoped that the space away from the thing would help rid him of this overwhelming attachment to it. Instead, now that he couldn't find the statue, he felt an overwhelming sense of loss. He could feel frustration and rage building up quickly, much like it had during his days confined to a fire nation vessel with his uncle. Fist clenched, fury rising like bile in his throat, the firebender let out an outraged shout, swinging his legs around underneath him in a whirl, sending fire across the small room as he leapt to his feet.  

Zuko seethed quietly for a few moments, looking at the destruction his outburst had caused with sudden shame. Immediately berating himself, he combed a hand through his dark hair. Anything flammable from the knees down was now charred at the very least. The blast had been short lived, and most of the furniture was made of stone, but his bedspread was gone. He probably would miss that later, but it was his own fault. With a groan, he sat on the bed.  _Where is that statue?_ He placed his head back in his hands and allowed himself to groan louder. "What the fuck is my problem?" He asked the empty room.  

* _Hiss*_  

Zuko's head popped up, looking for the cause of the strange noise. He listened carefully, hearing that faint hissing coming from near the door. He stood, walking slowly towards the noise. Igniting a flame quietly in his hands, he peaked behind the old shelves that stood near the wall. A confused noise escaped as he reached down to grab the statue he had been searching for. The oblong statue was glimmering and sizzling. His outburst seemed to have reached the little metal thing as well. Zuko walked back to the bed, sitting down and placing the statue on his lap as he stared at it. Curious, the firebender called up a small flame, slowly bringing it forward to the object. The statue started glowing, and suddenly began vibrating violently, threatening to work its way right off his lap. Calling a bigger flame into his hand, Zuko pressed the flame to the bottom of the statue, and it turned a vibrant gold, tinged with red. Removing his hand, the dull tinge of the metal immediately returned. Zuko put the statue beside him on the bed, an idea forming in his head. Nodding to himself, he grabbed one of his empty bags and headed towards the crumbling pavilion. 

* * *

 

 

"Jerkbender's been acting weird." Sokka remarked, watching the firebender from across the pavilion. "You can't tell me you haven't noticed, Aang."

Aang sighed, nodding at his friend. "Yeah, I've noticed a little. I heard that he and Katara had a fight again a few days ago. Maybe that set him back?"

Sokka rolled his eyes. "I'll be the first to admit my sister keeps the worst grudges, but it's nothing he doesn't deserve. We accepted him in, we aren't gonna go all gooey for him over night." Sokka held his hand up, holding off Aang's protest. "You can't ask people to just change blindly like that." Sokka stared back out at the prince. He seemed to be collecting something that was scattered across the pavilion floor. "Don't get me wrong. I like the guy. Hard not to when he risked his life to help me get Suki and Dad back." The young warrior shrugged. "Some people are harder to convince, that's all."

Aang bit his lip, nodding as Sokka spoke. "I think she will trust him eventually. I hope she will." Aang followed Sokka's gaze, confusion falling over his features. "What's he doing?" 

"Maybe he started a rock collection." Sokka yawned. 

Aang watched the warrior curl up on a bedroll, shaking his head. Deciding to follow his instincts, Aang set off towards the fire prince. Bending an air scooter and hopping on, he putted over to the firebender. "Whatcha dooin, Zuko?" He asked, whizzing around the prince.

Zuko jumped a little, eyes wide as he swung towards the Avatar. He looked down at his arms, filled with broken rock fragments. "Collecting rocks?" He said, sounding unsure if he believed that himself. 

Aang raised his eyebrows.  _Huh. Sokka was right._ He shook off his surprise, eagerly smiling at the other bender. "Anything I can do to help?" Aang let his air scooter dissipate, gently landing on his feet. 

Zuko seemed to consider the offer for a minute, before nodding slowly. "Actually... Yes? I could always use help... expanding my collection." He said, a red tinge showing on his good ear. The firebender smiled sheepishly at Aang. "I need to get as many of these flat stones as I can." The prince gestured towards his feet, where he had been picking up the flat broken pieces of the flagstones. 

Aang looked at him quizzically for a moment before grinning widely, real excitement obvious on his face. "That's Easy!" The airbender exclaimed. "You know, the Monks had to make these temples by hand, these temples always had to have quarries with extra stones. We can get you full sized ones, not just chipped off pieces!" Without waiting for a response, Aang jumped back up on his air scooter, and took off. Before he got too far, he heard the firebender huff before taking off full tilt to follow. Even it if was possibly the weirdest request he'd heard, he was glad to find something he could do to help his new friend. 

When they got to the quarry, Aang was surprised. He had never seen anyone get so excited over round rocks.  _Well, except for Gyatso, and he just liked skipping them across ponds._

Zuko nodded enthusiastically at the massive pile of rocks around them. "This." The firebender exclaimed, holding up a perfectly round-edged rock with two flatter sides.  "I want ones like this." Aang started collecting similar rocks, and by the time the boys were done, arms laden with rocks, they had collected well over thirty rocks. Zuko seemed ecstatic.  The two carried them back to Zuko's bag, and the prince, with a smile of thanks, took off, most likely for his quarters. Aang watched the prince leave before he walked over to where dinner was now being served, and sat beside Katara and Sokka. 

Katara eyed him. "How did helping Zuko go for you?" She asked, haughtily.  

Aang shrugged, not rising to her bait. "It went well, he's started rock collecting." He looked at the other two with a small smile. "Maybe it will help him mellow out? He's been so tense lately."

Sokka looked interested. "I was right! What kinds of rocks is he collecting? Did you tell him I have a space rock sword?" Sokka looked towards the corridor to Zuko's room. "I should tell him I have a space sword."

Aang rubbed a hand over the arrow on his head. "Ah, He's collecting all the flat rocks he can find." The airbender toed at one of the rock slabs in the floor. "Kinda like these, but smaller."

Katara and Sokka glanced between themselves. "People who collect rocks... don't they usually pick different types?" The water bender asked, eyebrow hitched high on her face. 

Sokka laughed next to her. "How can he be bad at collecting stuff?" Sokka gasped loudly. "MAYBE HE'S AN ALIEN." He wiggled his fingers violently, eyes bulging and twitching as he stared at his sister.

"La Sokka, are you drinking cactus juice again?" She glared at her brother until he sat down.

The warrior decided to give his sister a break, calming down a little. "Seriously though, Jerkbender's not that bad, even if he's super awkward. I swear, he's like a puppet without a master sometimes, he just needs someone to teach him how to be normal." Sokka looked towards Aang, who was currently making oogie eyes towards Katara. "Maybe not you, Aang." Aang blushed furiously, becoming very interested in his soup bowl. 

Neither boy noticed Katara's pallor as she stared down at the table, pretending to eat her food. 

 


	16. Punbelievable.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka and Zuko bond a little.

Sokka lay on his bedroll, arm thrown across his face. It had to be well into the morning, judging by the amount of noise coming from all around him. He could hear the general hubbub of the camp, people talking, and dishes clanging. _Crap. Overslept breakfast again._ One of these days, Katara was just going to stop making him food. Groaning, the warrior bent his knees up and used an elbow to prop himself against the temple wall. Reluctantly Sokka allowed his arm to fall from his face, keeping his eyes squeezed shut to avoid the bright light of the day. He opened them slowly, hissing as the light flooded his vision. The pavilion was bustling, just as he had expected. Suki and Toph were lounging at the table the group had pilfered from another part of the temple. Haru was watching Katara as she practiced her bending. Aang and Zuko were at the other end of the pavilion, obviously practicing firebending. Sokka groaned, shutting his eyes tightly and flopping back down on his bed roll, unwilling to begin his day. His mind wandered as he tried to doze off again.

Sokka was getting used to seeing magic. Despite what his sister said, anyone who could lift stuff with their minds... chi... whatever... had to be using magic. Now that they had collected a bender of every element, it seemed like the air was constantly full of heat, moisture, gusts, or debris. Having grown up with Katara he had gotten used to seeing water flowing around everywhere it wasn't supposed to be. Toph had introduced him to the unpleasant world of flying mudballs, but over time Sokka had become comfortable with her bending as well. Aang was the last airbender, but the young monk's bending never bothered the warrior. ' _I can bend air too!'_ He chuckled to himself as he inflated his cheeks and puffed out the air. _You can spit water, you can throw rocks, you can breathe air._ Sokka figured some, if not all, of the benders he knew probably would take issue with his simplification. He had seen the intricacies of the different styles first hand, and respected them all. While he couldn't puzzle out exactly how bending worked, he had decided that since they could be replicated by non benders, they couldn't be so bad. Sure, he couldn't weaponize the elements in the same way, but thinking the way he did made it easier to accept the unnatural things happening around him. 

Sokka couldn't acclimate to fire. Firebenders created fire out of thin air.  _You can't throw fire. You can't breath fire. You can't spit fire._ Yet Sokka had seen their most recently acquired bender do just that at The Boiling Rock. When he had opened that freezer, expecting to see a Zuko-cicle... it had been unnerving to see the firebender grin up at him, puffing out fire. The firebender could throw out ribbons of fire, winding and flowing the same as Katara's water did. He could breath fire in the same way Aang could send out powerful blasts of air with just a sigh. He could bend fire into massive heavy fireballs, tossing them around with as much force as Toph used with her mudballs. Fire made no sense. 

"Looking for light leaks?" A soft voice teased him from a few feet above his head, shocking him out of this thoughts. 

The warrior jumped a little, opening his eyes suddenly at the unexpected intrusion. He glared up at Zuko. The firebender was drenched in sweat. He had pulled up his shirt to wipe his face.  _Of course, he's fucking ripped. Well, if sleep wasn't so awesome, I'd be ripped too. Priorities._  Sokka scowled a little, shaking the thought from his head. "What do you want, Jerkbender."

"Oh, I'm sorry, want me to put a lid on it?" The prince's eyebrow rose.  _How can he smirk with only one eyebrow._

The water tribe boy started suddenly. "Did you just make a... pun?"

"Wouldn't that be Eye-ronic." The bender sunk down, crouching in front of Sokka. 

A little taken back, but nonetheless thrilled, Sokka poked the bender in the chest. "Alright, listen up. Puns are MY thing."

"Oh, sure. You're the master of puns. I'm just a pupil." Zuko sat back on his feet, cracking an awkward smile in his direction. "Anyway, I thought you were the meat and plan guy." 

"I'm the meat, plan and SARCASM guy. That includes puns. Now look," Sokka began, "Wait, was that ANOTHER one?"

"But what if this is just how eye roll." The fire prince stared at him, golden eyes flashing with mirth.

"THAT'S IT!" Sokka jumped to his feet, "You are impugning my honor! If you weren't a bender, I would challenge you to a duel!"

"Why can't you?" Zuko asked, face contorted in confusion. "I have swords." 

Sokka resisted the urge to slap himself in the face. "THEN IT IS ON. I challenge you to a sword-bending kai!"

"Yeah, we're not calling it that."

* * *

 The pavilion was filled with whooping and cheers as the group gathered to watch Sokka and Zuko duel. Sokka grinned at the firebender, eating up the attention bestowed upon him by the crowd. He walked around the agreed upon perimeters. "PREPARE TO BE ANNIHILATED ASHMAKING SCUM." Zuko crossed his arms at the posturing water tribe boy, less than amused. Sokka continued to hype the crowd, scanning his audience as he did. Toph was taking bets, a wide grin on her face. Katara looked annoyed, but most of the group was bubbling with excitement. His eyes settled on his Dad's face, and he grinned at him, giving him a thumbs up. 

"Are we going to actually duel today, Water Tribe?" Zuko glowered. 

"Looks like the Prince wants to get his humiliation over with, brother." Katara chirped from the crowd. "Kick his butt!"

Sokka grinned again, swiveling to face Zuko. He unsheathed his sword, flourishing it in front of him wildly before settling into a steady stance, both hands tightening around the grip. "Let's do this!"

Aang, who had piped up begging to be the referee, jumped up from the sidelines.  "Let's have a clean match guys!" The little monk hopped up on his air scooter and waved his hands excitedly. "BEGIN!"

Sokka kept his sword trained on the prince, looking for a fault in his guard. Zuko had his dual dao blades up, one tight to his body while the other was held at arms length as he moved sideways around the water tribe boy. Sokka pivoted with the firebender, not taking his eyes off him. Seeing what looked like a good opening as the prince side stepped, Sokka lunged forward. The tip of Sokka's blade was forced up, and as the warrior followed through with his thrust, his blade went harmlessly over the Prince's shoulder. Zuko whirled, spinning as the blade missed him. One of his blades kept Sokka's diverted but the other lashed out with the spin, slicing the front of Sokka's tunic. Aang flew up in the air, calling a halt. 

"Round one, Zuko!" The airbender made the other boys reset. "Aaaand.... GO!"

This time, Sokka decided to force the prince to come to him, as he stayed back keeping his guard tight. Zuko dashed in, blades brandished, but Sokka met them easily, catching both strikes with his sword, pushing off and causing the firebender to become unbalanced. Sokka charged in as Zuko fell backwards, lunging forward again. The bender's eyes widened slightly, and he bent backwards as Sokka's blade made an arc where the prince had just been. As Sokka repositioned for another attack, Zuko dropped a hand behind himself, forcing himself into a backflip, away from the swordsman. Sokka gaped a little at the Prince's agility, but pushed himself back into the encounter. 

"Have you always been this flippy?!" Sokka panted as their blades clashed again. Zuko shot him a grin, rolling under another thrust to try to close distance on the warrior. Sokka had been expecting this evasion, and spun to the side, halting his sword just before it collided with the fire Prince's eyes. The prince went a little cross eyed staring at the blade. Sokka grinned as Aang popped up, calling the round in his favor. 

The boys reset, determination clear in both faces. When Aang yelled for the round to start, they both launched at the other. Zuko came forward in a low run, Sokka threw himself forward, blade pointed at the prince, hilt close to the warrior's body. As Zuko came close, Sokka feinted, pushing his blade out, maintaining distance with his body. Zuko fell for the move, prepping to counter the attack, blocking with his outside blade. Sokka was ready, relaxing his grip slightly to drop his point under Zuko's guard. The first of the prince's dao blades countered only air, and the surprise was visible on the prince's face. Sokka caught his eye with a smirk, and was surprised to see a wicked gleam in the firebender's eye. Zuko pushed his body in another spin, catching Sokka's blade with the second dao blade. Using his momentum, Zuko continued to spin, forcing his body to whip around, foot flying up in a whirl to catch the blunt side of Sokka's blade, forcing it further off target. Zuko's spin quickly changed into a forward flip as his blades came forward in a cross. He landed inside Sokka's distance, putting the warrior off balance. The fabric of the water tribe fabric fluttered with the new cuts, as the warrior fell onto his butt wide eyed as he stared at the prince. Everything around the two boys was silent. Zuko crouched a little, collapsing his dual blades into one. He reached down, offering his hand to Sokka with a grin. 

It only took a moment for Sokka to return the smile, clasping hands with their once enemy. Noise returned to the pavilion quickly. 

"Alright, Jerkbender, I'll give it to you, you're not bad with those things. Space sword'll always be better though."

Zuko rolled his eyes and headed off towards his quarters, where he spent most of his free time. Sokka grinned at the retreating boy's back. "I'll get you next time, Jerk!" He was rewarded with a flippant wave of a hand. Sokka shook his head, thinking about how their relationship had shifted since the Boiling Rock. He never expected to find such an awkwardly easy friendship with a firebender, especially that one. Sokka shrugged, lost in his thoughts again. He might have issues wrapping his head around firebending, but on some level Zuko he understood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cornea and Cornea, ammiright? We're getting ready to launch into the borderline crack part of this fic, so I wanted to include this. This friendship is SO important to me. I love these idiots. I feel like after TBR these nerds would be so much more comfortable around each other, but the rest of the group probably aren't prepared for this bromance.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry about the fighting. I'm an epee fencer, so i have a little trouble relaying any sword fighting non-linearly. Whoops.


	17. Rocks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko is exhausted.

_I'm the banished prince of the fire nation. I'm the banished prince of the fire nation sitting in an air temple. I'm the banished prince of the fire nation sitting in an air temple bending fire at an inanimate object because it fucking glows when it gets hot, and that makes sense._ Zuko groaned, feeling the heat from his little rock pile diminishing. Swinging an arm down from off his bed, he lazily forced a small weak stream of fire at the pile of rocks in the corner of his room.  He had developed a pattern over the last few days. Every couple of hours he came to his room and heated the rock pile, and the little statue had retained its red-tinged golden hue. He wasn't sure why he cared what color it was, but something in him felt utterly depressed at the thought of the dullness returning to the little thing.  _Besides, this part is easy, compared to the first few days._ Now that he had his rocks arranged in a little pyramid he could be away for longer between blasting the structure with fire. His first few attempts had required him to feed fire into it for so long that he had only stopped firebending when he had collapsed from lack of energy. 

Forcing himself to sit up, he decided meditation might help. Breathing in deeply, he crossed his legs and perched on his bed, shutting his eyes. He focused on the cyclical nature of his breathing, reminding himself to deliberately control the flow. He centered himself, stretching his spine and allowing his fists to meet in his lap.  A moment later he winced as Toph announced her presence with a mudball. He narrowly avoided the projectile, hearing it splat on the wall a few inches from his head. "Can I help you?"

"Sup Sparky!" Toph waltzed in, grin plastered on her face. "Wanna have a bending battle?" The little earth bender leaned against the wall. "I bet we get more bets than your sword-bending match with Snoozles." 

"Sword-bending isn't a thing, Toph!" Zuko snapped, trying to settle back into a meditative stance. 

"Nah, it definitely is." Toph scratched her head lazily. 

"I'm exhausted." Zuko settled back onto his bed. "Can we do it tomorrow?" He leaned against the wall, eyes shutting as he tried to force himself to center again.

The earth bender huffed. "You are the least fun firebender ever, Sparky."

"Sorry to disappoint." Zuko said, cracking an open an eye in amusement, expecting the little girl to depart.

Toph didn't leave. "You have a problem with rats in here?"

Zuko opened both eyes, confused. "What? No, why?"

Toph looked confused for a second. "I could'a sworn..." She shook her head violently and shrugged. "Nevermind, Maybe I'm just catching the crazy from all the weirdos around here."

"I'm the only other person in here, Toph." The prince rolled his eyes, annoyed. Zuko looked at her quizzically. "Why, what was it?"

"I just thought I felt someone else in here." She shrugged. "I guess even the greatest earth bender alive is allowed to be wrong once. I don't feel it anymore, anyway."

Zuko frowned a little as the earthbender finally took her leave. Shaking his head, he laid down on his bed, completely abandoning his attempts to meditate. He propped up a little, noticing heat was no longer radiating off his little pyramid. Forcing a sizable burst of fire into the structure, Zuko yawned and laid down. 

The firebender had always prided himself for being very quick to take note of the things around him. He was usually a light sleeper, attentive to changes around him, even when he was supposed to be at his most vulnerable. It had saved his life many times in the past, the least of all being the time Zhao had tried to literally blow him up. As his lids lowered, exhaustion creeping into every fiber, Zuko lowered his guard. He rolled onto his back, and breathing out a small gentle flame the prince passed out, completely unaware of the cracking noise coming from the corner of his room.


	18. Introductions

Two glowing orbs danced into existence in front of Zuko's face. The soft light washed over him, giving him a sense of comfort. He smiled, sleep fogging his head. The lights reminded him of the lanterns they released every year at the Fire-Lily festival. Raising his hand, he reached out to touch the lights, to push the lanterns back up into the sky. The lights skittered away, just out of his reach. They blinked at him, one first and then the other. The little orbs felt heavy on his chest as they swayed, following his hovering hand. They seemed to brighten under his bleary eyed gaze, following his sluggish movements. The lights suddenly turned into a small flicker of flame and were gone. A groan resonated through the small room as Zuko slowly came to. He hadn't been that tired in ages.  Still, for a dream it had been one of his more pleasant ones. He hadn't been to a fire-lily festival since his mother had disappeared. _I really need to stop pushing myself so hard._  Heaving himself upright he held his head in his hands. A dull ache was forming, remnants from bending so much before he passed out earlier. Finally coming to completely, ridding his brain from sleep, Zuko knew something was off.  He felt that odd 'you're being watched' sensation, but he couldn't sense anyone nearby. Steeling himself, he surveyed the room. His swords were still on the table near the door, but his pack beside the bed looked like it had been ransacked, contents pulled out, splayed across the floor.

Lowering a hand quietly, he searched through the pack quickly, noticing all of his dried rations were gone. _Damn, I really wanted to save that jerky._ He shook his head, annoyed with how much like Sokka that thought sounded. Scanning the rest of the room, he noticed his little rock heater was just a jumble of crumbled rock shards now.  He stood, preparing to walk over to the pile, fear in his throat. Immediately his face was accosted. Zuko reacted. He had trained as a warrior and as a firebender for years, since he was younger than Aang. He was a master swordsman. He was also screaming at the top of his lungs. He clawed at his face, but whatever had attacked him was determined to stay right where it was. He thrashed his head around, hands holding the thing on his face. His scream had turned into grunts with the efforts of his struggle. He felt sharp pinpricks on each side of his face. He tried to call flame into his hands but with every attempt whatever was desperately clinging to his face only seemed to cling harder, and his hands would return to struggling to pull it off. With a desperate huff, Zuko breathed out a burst of fire, hitting the thing dead center. It fell off his face, squeaked a little and plopped down in the center of his bed. Zuko called a flame into his hand, trying to see his assailant before it launched a new attack. His jaw dropped as he stared into the face of a curious baby dragon. It stared up at him for a second before dropping its shoulders, wiggling its butt prepping another attack. Zuko yelped as the dragon flew through the air again, and he sent a small jet of fire back at it, causing it to drop back on the bed, making a weird noise. 

The dragon stared up at him, cocking its head to the side. Zuko cautiously lowered himself to his knees, bending a gentle flame towards the little reptile. It circled, rolling on its back, purring. 

"You like that, don't you?" He asked, softly. The dragon cracked an eye at him, wiggling as if to prompt him to continue. Bemused, Zuko forced a small blaze into his hand, holding it out to the dragon. It only took a minute before the small reptile crawled up into his palm. Zuko continued to nurse the flame in his hand, and the dragon purred happily. The moment was interrupted as a cacophony exploded from the fire prince's doorway. With a small yelp, Zuko shoved the tiny dragon into his shirt, turning around with a rigid, forced smile on his face. "Hey guys!" He chirped, wincing at the sound of his own voice. 

The group at the doorway were expecting a lot of things, each of them forming their own reasons as to why the fire prince would be letting loose a blood curdling scream in the middle of the night. They had rushed to his room, cursing how far out they had forced him to stay as they ran full tilt to the rescue. None of them expected to see Zuko standing there, awkwardly leaning against his wall, smiling at them.  Katara was the first to speak. 

"What happened, Zuko? Did someone attack you?"

Zuko twitched a little, wrapping his arms around his stomach to quiet the wriggling lizard. "Nope, nothing wrong here!" He said, cheerfully, wincing at them.

Katara shot him an unbelieving look, surveying the room. Aang spoke before she could interrogate the prince. "Oh, good! We thought we heard screaming."

Zuko's smile faltered a little before blazing back, even as his face twitched. "Nope! Maybe it was an squirrel-owl?" The prince asked, pleasantly.

Sokka stared at the prince. "Yeah, maybe." Zuko began to release a relieved breath, but Sokka continued. "Usually they don't call out 'WHAT THE FLAMING FUCK' but you know, maybe it's a new species."

Zuko's face was turning an interesting shade of red. "The fire nation has a lot of interesting creatures?" He forced his smile. "As you can see, everything is completely fine here. Feel free to go back to bed." He patted at his stomach a little forcefully, as the little dragon started writhing violently. Zuko forced his internal fire to burn a little stronger, warming his stomach for the squirming reptile. It seemed to mollify the creature, but the people in front of him still eyed him suspiciously. 

Aang seemed to be the most sympathetic. "It was a nightmare, wasn't it? I get them all the time, Zuko. You don't need to worry, we won't judge you."

Katara glowered. "Speak for yourself." She muttered to herself, but her eyes were softer when she looked at the prince. Zuko cleared his throat, feeling even more awkward.

Sokka bumped his sister, frowning. "Yeah buddy, no judgement." Aang smiled at the warrior, and then turned back to the prince. 

"See? We're here for you Zuko! We're your friends." The airbender came forward, arms spread for a hug. Zuko's eyes widened in horror, willing the little dragon to wiggle around to his back, but now sufficiently warm it seemed determined to stay put. Zuko pushed a hand forward, stopping Aang in his tracks. Aangs hurt expression made Zuko wince more than the claws digging into his chest. The prince forced his hand into a fist, and gestured to the monk. 

Aang looked at the fist quizzically for a second before slowly bumping it with his own. "Is this a fire nation thing?"

"Yeah, of course. Only reserved for friends." Zuko lied.

Aang grinned happily. "Awesome!" The monk, satisfied with the gesture, turned and bounded back down the hallway. 

Sokka looked hurt, and Zuko rolled his eyes, holding out his fist for the warrior to bump. "Nice." Sokka hit his fist a little forcefully, before closing a little distance and forcing Zuko to grab elbows with him. "Works pretty well with ours, now we've got a handshake." The boy nodded at the firebender before following Aang down the hall.

Katara stood, staring at the prince, watching him, suspicion in her eyes. "I'm going to find out what you're hiding, Zuko." Turning on her heel she hurried out of the room quickly. 

Zuko slumped against his wall, sliding down to the floor.  _At least now I can figure out this thing._ He looked down at the small lump under his tunic only to find the creature snoring, claws digging into his chest. Stretching out on the floor to keep the little thing comfortable, the firebender sighed. He'd sort this situation out when the sun actually came up. Placing a hand over the dragon, Zuko allowed himself to fall back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title: Zuko invents the fist bump.


	19. What's in a Name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko makes some discoveries.   
> 'Never let a dragon eat jerky. You'll never hear the end of it.'

Zuko was only slightly exhausted when he woke up the next morning. The bright light shining through the small window of his chambers told him it was far later than was usual for his normal 'crack of dawn' routine, and still it felt like he hadn't slept a wink.  The sun was well into the sky, but it couldn't be helped. Every time the little reptile had twitched during the night, Zuko had woken up in a panic. He probably would have slept later if the dragon hadn't decided to wake him. Smelling something burning, Zuko had come to suddenly, bleary eyed and blinking smoke from his eyes. It hadn't taken long for him to realize his bangs were currently on fire, and that he had a little dragon chutting at him rhythmically from his chest.  _Is it_ _actually_ _laughing at me? Is it really,_ _actually_ _laughing at me._ Zuko let out a growl, not sharing in the dragon's amusement.  He had put out his hair fairly quickly, but a chunk of hair was significantly shorter than the rest of his shaggy mop, and it frustrated him.  

The prince shivered slightly, goosebumps appearing rapidly on his flesh. He was... cold?  _I've never been cold in my entire life._ Even forced in the freezer at the Boiling Rock prison, Zuko's strong internal fire kept him from feeling most of the chill. The fire prince looked down at the dragon curled on his chest, golden orb-like eyes following the firebender's movement. Feeling ridiculous, Zuko nodded at the dragon. It nodded back, cocking its head to the side, obviously waiting. 

Raising a brow, Zuko voiced his thoughts. "Are you... stealing my heat?" The dragon chutted at him, rising to sit back on its haunches. As soon as the beast removed itself, warmth once again started seeping into the firebender. Zuko let out a relieved sigh at the sensation as he regained feeling in his extremities. Overcome with questions and confusion, Zuko forced himself to breath deeply, before staring sternly at the baby dragon. He huffed at the reptile. "That's not nice of you. I need that. Firebenders can't be cold!" The dragon leveled its gaze at him, unfazed. It huffed, stretching out on the firebender again, sapping warmth almost instantly.  

Zuko shivered again, studying the young lizard. "How are you doing that?" The dragon popped its head up, burping a flame at the fire prince as if the answer was obvious. The prince considered momentarily. "Fire... is it a type of bending?" The dragon burped again, this time an odd noise coming out.

' _Drrk.'_

"Are you just going to keep burping at me?" Zuko rolled his eyes as another burp sounded off.

' _Drrrrk_ '

"If you're not careful, I'm just going to start calling you Gasbag." The dragon rolled its eyes, flicking its tongue out at the prince. "Or maybe I'll call you by just burping at you. How'd you like that?"

' _Drrrrrruk._ _'_

The dragon chutted happily as the firebender grimaced at it. The last belch had been particularly foul smelling, and if the fire prince was being completely honest, he wasn't entirely sure it had all come from the dragon's mouth. "Well, serves you right for eating all the jerky in my bag." Zuko fanned the smell out of his face, staring down exasperatedly at the flatulent little lizard. The small creature chutted happily, circling on his chest. 

Zuko smiled awkwardly at the reptile. It was a beautiful creature, when you got past the annoying attitude. Brilliant scales, a deep scarlet trimmed with gold covered it, varying in size. A golden mane and whiskers gave the face a distinguished, almost regal look. The eyes were giant compared to the narrow snout, glowed with a golden hue, reminding Zuko of his own. The creature regarded him with an intelligent gaze, it made Zuko gulp to be analyzed so intensely. It was obvious to the prince that the dragon was incredibly intelligent. It was also obvious that it had returned to the previously schedule sapping of all the firebender's warmth.  

"Well, I can't just sit here and let you leech me into an icicle. Can you stay in my shirt?" Zuko waited for the dragon to respond. It raised an eyebrow, surprising the prince. He hadn't even realized the dragon had eyebrows, let alone could move them independently. "I don't really want the world knowing about you, just yet. You've got to be the first baby dragon in a century." The firebender waited, watching the dragon. It seemed to consider before shrugging. Unaware dragons could shrug, Zuko forced himself up with a groan. He winced a little as the little creature clung to his chest, but slipped into his normal tunic, making sure the dragon was covered by the fabric. It didn't seem to mind, latched onto his chest like a leech. 

Zuko made his way carefully into the lower pavilion. He was met with the general daytime hub-bub, but no one seemed to pay much attention to his entrance for which he was grateful. Zuko quietly walked over to the temple's edge, finding himself in a particularly comfortable ray of light. He sank down, legs hanging over the edge. Leaning his back against a crumbling bench, Zuko let himself relax as warmth completely returned to his skin again. He heard a satisfied chut coming from the lump under his shirt. Unable to keep the drowsiness at bay after such a fitful night, the firebender allowed himself to doze off.

* * *

"Is he dead?"

"Should we poke him with a stick?"

"Sokka, you can't just go around poking dead people."

"So we're assuming he's dead then?"

"I don't think he's dead guys, maybe he's just sleeping!"

"Have you EVER seen jerkbender sleep during the day?"

"Toph, can't you like, footbend or whatever and just see if he's awake?"

"Fiine. But you dodo-brains owe me, as usual."

Trembling tiles woke him up. He could feel the ground vibrating towards him, the wave of movement getting closer, and Zuko popped to his feet instinctively. Momentarily confused, he blinked at his surroundings, noticing a curious Aang, Sokka, and Katara staring at him. Only a few feet from the others, Toph was in a bending stance, her seismic sense stretching out towards him. Panic flooded his mind. Turning quickly, Zuko took off across the pavilion in a series of flips and handsprings, trying to minimize his body's contact with the floor. The movements jostled the little reptile glued to his chest, and the fire prince was not looking forward to patching the cuts left by those sharp claws later. Zuko threw himself forward and into the secondary temple. The gap between the two buildings was small, but large enough that Toph's seismic sense couldn't travel across it. 

Once he was out of sight of the group, Zuko sank back down onto the temple floor basking in an admittedly inferior sun ray. He reached a hand beneath his tunic and stroked the little dragon resting there. "I will protect you, on my honor." Zuko's jaw clenched with the force of his determination. "I will help keep you secret." Using his knuckle, he scratched the dragon under the chin, watching as the little creature's stare bore into his own.

The dragon rose to its feet, clambering up the firebender's body. It stretched out its long neck, face coming closer to the prince's. Zuko held his breath, almost reverently watching the dragon's movements.  _This is an original firebender. This creature is the very foundation of my nation. These creatures are so majestic. So regal and powerful! It is such an honor to..._

Zuko's thoughts were cut off as the elegant, regal reptile let out a loud belch right in his face.

  _'DRRRRRRUK'_

The fire prince's expression soured and he rolled his eyes.

"Forget I thought anything." The dragon chutted rhythmically at him again, this time rolling around on Zuko's chest in what could only be described as glee before burping loudly again.

"That's it. I'm calling you Druk." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always believed that dragons would have a telepathic connections with the humans they bond to... so get used to Druk interrupting Zuko whenever he starts getting all mopey and focusing on that honor drivel. :) Poor guy.
> 
> Next up. The gang reacts to firebender acrobatics.


	20. Fire Noodles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gaang gossips about their resident gymnast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know what people want to read. Druk stuff, right?  
> Well here's not that.

Suki chortled loudly as Sokka once again fell flat on his back.  

"Maybe you should get something to cushion your fall, if you're gonna insist on throwing yourself on the floor." Suki arched an eyebrow at her boyfriend as she failed to hide her smile. Sokka's glare was expected and intense. 

"Look, what if all those firebenders can do this stuff?" Sokka grunted as he stood once again, bending his knees to launch himself backwards again. "We can't just disregard a tactical advantage!"  

"Sokka, just because Zuko happens to be good at this, doesn’t mean they all are." Suki looked over to Katara, pleading with the waterbender to help her talk sense into her stubborn sibling. Katara shot Suki a bemused expression as Sokka hit the ground with a thud again.  

"Yeah, Sokka... as much as I... appreciate your determination... this seems kind of pointless." Katara frowned, thinking. "And I'm gonna have to heal those bruises." Sokka stood back up, huffing at his sister and girlfriend.  

"LOOK. Just because you can't appreciate tactical advantages like I can, doesn't mean they aren't important! That’s two so far. That circus chick is basically a human noodle. And now we are suddenly finding out Zuko is too?" Sokka scowled, rubbing his hand over his sore shoulder blades as he prepped to flip again. "Sure, he's on our side now, but what if the fire nation is just a bunch of flame throwing noodles. You can't win a war against fire noodles!" 

"We having noodles for dinner?" A new voice piped up. 

Suki stifled a chuckle as Aang walked over. "No, Sokka wants to fight noodles."

"FLAME THROWING HUMAN FIRE NOODLES." Sokka interjected. "And I don't want to fight them, per se. I want to learn to fight like a human noodle so that I'm ready for their tricks!" He said, exasperation dripping from his voice, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"He's mad that Zuko is good at acrobatics." Suki continued, laughing. Sokka scoffed at his girlfriend's statement, squatting briefly before throwing himself backwards again, only to land on his shoulders this time. Tired, he allowed himself to stay in the upside down position for a minute, frowning at his traitor legs for not completing their rotation around his head.

Aang grinned as he crossed his legs, taking a seat near Katara. "Yeah, but we knew that already, right?" The group spun towards Aang, confusion on all of their faces.  "It's not like we didn't know he was fast and flippy."

"What do you mean, Aang?" Katara asked, hesitantly. 

"Oh, I mean back at the temple, with Commander Zhao?" Aang shrugged. "He's always been like that. I figured he learned it FROM Ty-Lee." The airbender absentmindedly drew swirls in the dirt covering the pavilion floor. 

Suki, Sokka, and Katara shared a look. "What temple? Zhao?" Katara spoke for the group. "Are you talking about crescent island?" 

Aang looked up suddenly, surprise etched on his face. "OH. Um. Yeah. I mean, he was pretty quick on his feet, right? He's always been pretty fast." 

Sokka tutted at the young monk. "Eh eh eh. Fast is not the same as HUMAN FIRE NOODLE."  

Aang looked a little sheepish. "Yeah, but I mean, I'm sure he's done some of those acrobatics before, when he was chasing us, right?" The airbender perked up quickly. "And he was super agile when we were at the sun-temple. Before we got trapped in goo, he helped me avoid several traps. And he was like that when he sparred with you too, right Sokka?" Aang beamed at the three staring at him, not waiting for a response from the watertribe boy. "So there, that’s how we've known!" 

Suki felt a little skeptical. "Who are you trying to convince, Aang?" He frowned at her unhappily. "What aren't you telling us?" 

The Avatar blanched a little under the scrutiny. Katara eyed him suspiciously for a moment before leaning back against the temple wall, thinking to herself. When she spoke, it was almost so quiet that it went unnoticed. The group had to lean in to hear her. "He has always moved like that, maybe it was just hard to see before because of how militant and strict firebending seems."  Katara rested her chin on her fist, frowning. 

Aang leapt at the admission. "Exactly! And the Dragon style makes it a lot easier to see, its waaay more fluid, almost like waterbending. Maybe the styles aren't so different, you know?" 

Katara grunted noncommittally.  Suki looked away from the pensive waterbender. "Okay, so if he's always been that way, why don't you just ask him to teach you how to flip, Sokka?" 

Sokka snapped his fingers, eyes lighting up. "I could just ask him to teach me! Why waste our resident jerkbender resource?" Suki shook her head, rolling her eyes. A loud clap of thunder caused the group to start, attention suddenly on the darkening sky.  

"Maaaaaaaaaan." Sokka whined, staring out at the clouds rolling forward. "It can't raaaaaaain. We're low on firewood." 

Aang looked at him quizzically, but Sokka just continued to make an awkward high pitched noise towards the sky so Suki took it upon herself to explain. "If it rains in that swamp, any wood we collect will be too wet to actually use for a fire."  

Katara grimaced, having finally shook herself out of her reverie. "Yeah. I'd be no good at bending water out of them either, I'm not great with the Foggy Swamp style." 

Sokka turned back to the group. "How about Aang and Zuko just bend fire and we can roast dinner on that!"  

Aang shook his head fervently. "No way, Zuko's a great teacher, but I'm still not interested in bending around my friends. What if I hurt someone again??" 

Rolling her eyes, Suki stood. "Well I doubt the prince would be too happy about being used as a matchstick anyway. And he can't just bend a campfire all night, so we'd all get cold eventually." The group nodded solemnly. As hot as the days were at the temple, the nights could reach a very unforgiving cold.  

 Stretching her arms over her head, she enjoyed drawing Sokka's attention back to her as the hem of her shirt rose slightly. She smirked to herself. "Katara, lets go see what we can find for firewood before that rain hits."  

Katara rose to join Suki. The two girls walked down the hall towards the stairs that would lead to the upper pavilions.  

"Maybe we should ask Zuko to come." Katara piped up suddenly. Suki's grin stretched ear to ear. "You know, he needs to pull his weight around here, anyway." The waterbender continued, a faint red flooding onto her cheeks. "And we can keep tabs on him." 

The Kyoshi warrior schooled her features to remain serious, laughing internally.  "Yeah that's a good plan, and he can help carry what we find."

Katara nodded unsmiling as they made their way towards Zuko's room, features contorted in complete determination. Suki couldn't help but roll her eyes.


	21. Oh my god, he's flexible.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko does Yoga.  
> Katara discovers a new shade of red!  
> Druk gets annoyed.  
> Suki schemes.

Life at the Western Air Temple before unwittingly adopting the gassiest dragon to ever exist had been awkward. Life at the temple after becoming said dragon's dad was somehow even worse. Zuko found himself bemoaning his fate quite regularly, which seemed to righteously offend Druk.  Unfortunately for Zuko, the dragon had quickly picked up on his mood swings, choosing to prevent the spirals by setting the prince's bangs on fire. Druk (annoying habits and all) had become a permanent fixture on the firebender's side, and Zuko found that the young dragon was starting to test his already limited patience with a gleeful tenacity.  The fire prince found himself on the receiving end of much unpleasantness that came with caring for a baby dragon. He was freezing all the time, thanks to the scaly heat leech that determinedly clung to his chest, creating tiny stinging cuts with those sharp claws.

Unwilling to be on the receiving end of any more so called 'healing' from Katara, Zuko felt like he was constantly applying salves to his skin to help with the abrasions. Druk would immediately undermine his efforts by wiggling around in an attempt to find an inch of the firebender's skin that wasn't covered in a now familiar icy sheen. The cuts were almost welcome compared to that alien feeling of being cold, but Zuko wasn't one hundred percent certain which was worse. The spastic little reptile seemed just as determined to fillet him as it was to turn him into a icicle. Druk's constant shifting made Zuko very glad that his tunic was billowy and loose fitting, it made it slightly easier to conceal the dragon tap-dancing across his stomach.

Druk wiggled, claws digging into the tender flesh covering Zuko's abdomen. The fire prince jumped slightly, good eye widening as he pulled himself from his introspection, scowling down at the beast. He could feel his temper rising with every new cut pricking his skin as the dragon continued its unending search for warmth. Zuko felt his eye twitch, fists clenching and unclenching by his sides.

_Uncle always said the key to controlling ones emotions was spiritual balance._

Iroh had always told him that the key to proper firebending came with total alignment of the chakras, and that yoga would help in that goal. His uncle had painstakingly taught him the poses, but only recently had Zuko taken the teachings to heart. Positioning himself in the middle of the room, Zuko sank down into lotus position. Breathing in deeply, he exhaled feeling energy gently flowing through his being. Druk skittered across his stomach, pointy claws digging into the sensitive skin with each step.

_Breathe._  

Extending one leg in front of himself, he bent the other knee up, leaning forward with his eyes closed. Clasping hands behind his back, around his bent knee, he felt tension leave his spine, only to be brought back full force when Druk squawked indignantly as it was only slightly squished.  The noise made Zuko's lips twitch, eyes popping open to look down at the disgruntled little dragon. It had scrambled upwards, head popping out of the gaping collar of the tunic as he let out an indignant huff. The firebender shook his head, closing his eyes again to allow himself to relax.  Sighing, he repeated the Dedicated Sage's pose, switching sides of his body only receiving a disapproving grunt from Druk. After a moment, he rolled up into the standing Eagle pose with his arms stretched high above his head. He felt the sudden shift of the reptile in his shirt before it clambered up to cling to his shoulder blades. Druk chutted at him animatedly, wiggling its eyebrows in what Zuko assumed was supposed to look threatening. Stretching as tall as his frame would allow and hearing his joints pop with the movement, Zuko grinned down at the dragon. 

_Not a fan of those poses? You'll love this then._

Shaking the tension out of his shoulders, Zuko leaned forwards to place his hands on the ground, allowing his legs to stretch. Another indignant squawk followed the movement, as Druk scrambled to find a perch on the firebender's back. Zuko let a small laugh escape.

_We're only getting started, kid._

Slowly, allowing his core to pull his legs above his head, he allowed his arms to take his full weight as he transitioned into a handstand. Painful skittering trailed up his neck and onto his scalp. A supremely annoyed dragon peeked at him, upside down through his uneven bangs. Zuko let himself fully grin at the creature.

_Okay, so maybe I'm not going to achieve spiritual enlightenment this session._ Somehow the thought did nothing to dampen the sudden playfulness Zuko felt, his grin only widening as he locked eyes with Druk.

Enjoying the sudden role reversal, Zuko seamlessly transitioned into the next form. As he shifted into his supported headstand, the dragon's head bobbed with the movement, and it very obviously rolled its eyes.

_I wonder if all of them do that._

Never one to maintain a hold on his dignity for very long, Zuko wasn't surprised when his tunic fluttered down over his face. Even though the meditation session had quickly become a ruse, Zuko refused to cut his workout off prematurely. Tightening his core, he moved to his elbows and braced his head in his hands, flexing his spine into the Scorpion pose. Druk seemed unfazed by this change, more concerned with batting at the fabric draped haphazardly over their heads. Zuko couldn't help but chuckle as the little dragon playfully pawed at the cloth. As his back muscles began to complain from the duration of one of his most difficult stretches, Zuko chided himself.

  _Focus, there are only two more movements left._

Zuko forced himself to roll down onto his stomach before lifting his weight onto his palms placed close to his core. While training on the decks of the ship, the Peacock pose had been the hardest to master, the balance shift always threw him off. Now, on solid ground, he surprised himself with his prowess. He only wobbled a little, and most of that could be attributed to the reptile wiggling around incessantly on his scalp. Zuko shook his head a little, unseating the dragon from its perch and forcing it to tumble onto his back. It chutted at him angrily for a moment before nestling in the drooping fabric still covering the firebender's head.

_And now to really rile him up..._ Zuko smirked to himself.

 Adjusting back into a handstand Zuko flipped over, landing on his feet as his tunic finally decided to act like a proper shirt again. Druk clung to his back, oddly quiet and unnaturally still. Zuko looked up, head swiveling slightly to catch the young dragon's gaze. He was met with wide eyes and a small nudge, forcing his attention in front of him. 

It was pretty obvious what had Druk acting so strangely, and Zuko really felt like kicking himself for not having paid attention to his surroundings. 

 Katara and Suki stared back at him from the doorway, one flushed a brilliant red, the other smirking widely. Zuko reached back to rub at his neck, letting his fingers scratch Druk's head surreptitiously as he looked away from the girls.  The dragon relaxed slightly, pressing its body more tightly against him.

"Sorry, I didn't notice the two of you." He muttered towards the corner of the room, not looking at them. He felt a small prick as Druk's claws dug into his shoulder blades. Zuko shuffled his feet a little, feeling self conscious.  

"How long have you been doing yoga?" Suki asked, her voice tinted with amusement. Zuko looked up at her quizzically, not at all certain what to think of the odd look the warrior was giving him.  

"Every day since I've been back from the sun temple? Figured it would help me get back in touch with my inner fire at first... then it was just habit." Zuko continued to watch the two staring at him from the door but when neither spoke, he sighed.  "I learned years ago though, my uncle taught me. He said he learned it from studying scrolls on the air benders." Zuko shrugged sheepishly, rambling. "Thanks to my great-grandfather, there weren't many yogis that Uncle could learn from directly." 

Suki nodded, considering Zuko carefully before changing the subject. "We were going to go out to get more firewood, we could use some help."  

Taken aback by the sudden change of subject. Zuko stuttered briefly. "That's cool?" Realization hit him belatedly. "Oh, ah you're sure you want my help?" Zuko asked, curiously eyeing the Kyoshi warrior, before his gaze flickered back over the waterbender.  

Suki smiled at him, a genuine smile. "I've decided I've forgiven you for burning down my village, since you helped me break out of prison. I guess we're even now." She dropped the smile, looking at him sincerely. "Seriously Zuko, thank you. I realized I never actually said that to you after we got back."  

"Ah. It was the least I could do." Zuko stated, at a loss for anything else to add. He could feel his face heating slightly, and he found himself watching Katara again, surprised to find her blatantly staring at him. "Katara, are you, uh sure you want my company?" Surely she was here under duress. Suki struck him as one that didn't easily take no for an answer when she had a goal in mind.

_This has got to be her idea._

Suki grinned at him again, reminding him, not for the first time, of Sokka. "Yeah, it was Katara's idea to ask you for your help." She said, elbowing the other girl in the ribs. This seemed to shake Katara out of her slack-jawed staring, and her face flooded with color again before she frowned at him.

Zuko saw her throat flex slightly, in what he assumed was an effort to swallow the bile that his presence had created. Clearly giving herself an internal pep-talk, Katara finally responded. The words felt clipped and forced, as if she was as unwilling to let them leave her mouth as he was to hear them, but they carried none of her usual bitterness.

"Oh, yes. I figured it was the least you could do, you know. Helping out, making yourself useful. You still have a lot to prove, Zuko."

 Zuko tried to read the expression on her face, but couldn't for the life of him determine what it meant. Katara stiffened under his examination, immediately turning on her heel, pulling Suki behind her. The Kyoshi warrior grinned and gestured for Zuko to follow them.

Zuko gulped, glancing back at the dragon that was now staring at him in wide eyed confusion.

_I don't understand them any better than you do, buddy._ Zuko thought to himself, before clearing his throat. 

"So, you want to stay here?" The dragon rolled its eyes at the question, wriggling down the firebender to nestle against his side, claws locking him in place. Zuko only winced a little. "Yeah, I figured." He gulped, unwilling to go but incapable of staying. A nasty thought flooded his brain.

_This will be the first time I have to be around her since... well._  

His anxiety around her had decreased with distance and time, he had little trouble being around her when others were present, but he desperately wanted to avoid any serious confrontation with Kataraagain. Again, Zuko was struck with the urge to just stay here goofing off with his angry little yoga hating dragon. Unfortunately for him, he really hadn't even tried to come up with a good reason not to follow the girls, and now he was honor bound to help.  

Druk dug its claws into Zuko's side in a particularly painful way, annoyed. The pain, while brief, spurred the firebender into action. He grabbed his swords, quickly strapping them to his back before glancing down at the suspicious side bulge that was Druk. Giving the baby dragon what he hoped was a reassuring pat through his tunic, Zuko gulped and headed out to join Suki and Katara.  

 


	22. Experiments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gathers firewood. It really shouldn't be this difficult.  
> Seriously, no one brought an axe?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, work, life and diversified interests bogged me down.  
> BUT NO MORE. Druk promised to singe me if I didn't get my act together.

Katara grimaced as she heard Zuko jogging up behind them. While inviting him had indeed been her idea, each step into the thick forest made her hyper aware of her mistake.  Katara felt most of her interactions with the fire prince as of late had been almost civil (for her). She had felt fairly comfortable with her suggestion to ask him for help, and Suki had instantly agreed. When they had walked up on him inverted in a complex yoga pose, mumbling to himself quietly, Katara had been tempted to flee at the sight. It was easy to convince herself he was evil when she walked up to him doing things that could be construed as nefarious... but yoga? Even she had a problem connecting the Zuko they had recently walked in on and the evil son of the Firelord.  

Still, the sight of him like that, at ease with himself, relaxed and almost... appealing; it made her uncomfortable.  His athleticism had been immediately obvious, Suki had been quick to point out as the two had set off before the prince could respond.  Suki had also annoyingly mentioned the red tinge coloring Katara's face as she practically dashed away from the confused firebender.

_It was a completely natural reaction. I was just surprised, that's all._

Sure, Katara had known he was in surprising shape for royalty (she had been fairly close to him that first night she had healed him), but she had never considered the extent of his efforts. She'd never seen anyone doing such difficult yoga inversions so effortlessly like that. Aang's yoga habits tended to be the mind-centering brand, less athletic, more meditative. Zuko's had been raw power, strength. She'd felt very strange, staring at him, hypnotized by his movements.

 Katara shook her head violently, walking in silence towards the forest, resolutely ignoring the way she could feel his eyes boring into her back.

  _He watche_ _s me_ _like_ _I'm going to snap... Like I'm_ _some_ _volatile_ _predator..._ _like_ _I could attack at_ _any time_ _._ She felt a surge of anger flood to the surface before she forced it back down. 

 _C_ _an I bla_ _me him?_  

She was surprised he had agreed to follow them at all, the grimace on his face had made it pretty clear that being around her was the last thing he wanted to do.  

When they reached the edge of the bamboo, she turned towards her companions, carefully avoiding making eye contact with the fire bender. 

"Right, we need enough wood to last the next few weeks. I can feel moisture in the air. It is going to rain soon, and we have no idea how long the rains could last." She accidentally caught the gaze of the firebender. She stuttered slightly, but continued. "And we need to get this wood before it gets soaked." She looked around them, on the forest floor. "We don't have an axe and if I know anything about weapons, no one wants to dull theirs with tree bark." She got an emphatic nod from both Zuko and Suki.  Sighing, she gestured to the ground. "Let's try to salvage as much kindling as we can from fallen branches and sticks." She watched as Zuko squirmed a little, forcefully putting a hand on a hip. Katara felt her brow raise at the action, but chose not to mention it. The bender seemed to be attempting to dig his fist into his hip, but honestly she had seen weirder, living with Sokka. She ignored him.

Zuko immediately walked over to a fallen log, pacing around the dead wood at their feet.  

"What about this?" He asked, gesturing towards the large downed tree. Katara rolled her eyes.  

"We can't cut that up, Zuko. Weren't you listening?" Katara huffed. A soft rhythmic chutting noice echoed from somewhere nearby. Katara spun quickly, eyeing the direction of the noise, but the only thing blinking back at her was a bewildered firebender.

 _Great, now I'm hallucinating._ Katara watched Zuko frown at the log, grimacing at it as though it had personally taken his honor. He stared for a long quiet minute before nodding again, walking off to collect sticks from the ground.  

It was tedious work, and even after they had collected everything in a large area, they barely had enough for one night. Katara slumped on the ground, dejected. Zuko frowned at her, and walked back over to the fallen log. 

"Seriously, do you ever listen?" Katara groaned at him, more annoyed than angry. "You aren't strong enough to wrestle that back to camp, and the forest is too dense with folliage to roll it there, Zuko." She said, voice muffled as she held her head in her hands. Zuko continued to stare at the log. Katara could hear Suki walking over to where Zuko was standing. 

"Zuko, that's fantastic!" Suki exclaimed, and Katara popped up her head to watch. Zuko, staring intently at the log, had bent a thin rope of fire between his hands, spread across the width of the tree. He increased the intensity of the blaze, a thin strip burning into the log.  

Katara found her jaw dropping for the second time in one day. She had never seen a firebender use their element in such a focused way. She watched as he slowly worked the blaze down the charred cut he was making, effectively sawing a chunk off the log. He immediately started on another section of the tree. Katara glanced away from the bending and back to the bender. His face was one of intense concentration, shaggy blackish-brown hair falling in his eyes, bottom lip caught between his teeth.  

"How... How are you keeping the tree from catching fire?" She wondered aloud. Zuko finished the current cut, gaze flicking up to meet hers, face coloring slightly before immediately turning to work on another cut. He squirmed a little under her attention. Staring at him, she noticed goosebumps raising quickly across his skin, disappearing only a moment after. Katara shook her head in bemused disbelief.  

Suki clapped her hands excitedly. "I'm going to get some of the others from camp to help carry this back. We're going to have enough wood to last us for the next several weeks!"  

Katara watched as the Kyoshi warrior started jogging back to the temple. It didn't take Suki long to disappear from view, and when she had Katara swung her focus back onto the fire prince. She watched as he meticulously made one last cut in the wood with this 'fireblade' he had bent into existence. He immediately sat back on his heels, admiring his handiwork. Zuko looked up at her, and for a brief moment he did the most amazing thing.

He grinned.

It was a wide, self satisfied grin, stretching fully across his face. It softened the harsh lines of his scar and brought light and humor to his usually grumpy features. 

Katara felt her breath hitch as two realizations hit her.

One: It should be illegal to smile like that.

Two: This was the first time they had been alone since that disastrous night when she had attempted to heal him. 

Her throat felt dry, unwilling to cooperate as she forced herself to squeak something out. "You're a lot more powerful of a bender than I'd like to give you credit for, Zuko." Her words were quiet, but instantly she winced at her accidental word choice, thinking back briefly to the prediction she had gotten from Aunt Wu. She scoffed halfheartedly, immediately shaking her head to dismiss the traitorous thoughts springing to mind. She stood, walking over to run her fingers over the charred but clean cuts along the wood. "I still want to know how you kept the wood from going up in flames. These lines are so precise." She looked into his eyes, quizzically.  

The firebender squirmed, aggressively wrapping his arms around his torso, before forcing an awkward cough. "It was just a stupid trick." One hand went to the back of his neck again, something she was beginning to realize was a nervous gesture. "I didn't even think it would work." Katara pulled a small frown, but allowed the subject to drop. She took a seat beside him on the forest floor, eyes searching his face inquisitively. He fidgeted under the stare, and Katara felt her resolve to hate him soften slightly. 

She put her hand on his shoulder, and felt his muscles tense immediately before he forcibly relaxed them. His head snapped up, eyes locking on to the hand grasping his shoulder. The unexpected contact seemed to unnerve him, and she wondered if he too had only just realized how close they were.

 _This is madness_. 

Her face was inches from his, and she bit her lip when she noticed his gaze flick down to her mouth quickly.

_He is the enemy._

She saw his Adam's apple bob as his gaze drew back up to meet hers.  

_Isn't he?_

If one of them shifted, their lips would meet.  

_I hate him._

Katara felt herself leaning towards him. His good eye was wide as his gaze flickered from her mouth to her eyes and back again.

_Don't I?_

Katara did nothing in halves. With a determined huff, she closed the distance between them, their lips brushing slightly, and she felt him groan softly against her mouth.  

"It feels like you're bending me again." He spoke, voice raw and scratchy.  

The words broke something within her as he watched her, vulnerability clear on his face. 

She didn't want to look at that. She didn't want to see hurt written on his strong features. She wanted to forget the horrible things she was capable of, the horrible things she did to him.

She closed her eyes, scooting closer.  Attempting to lean into him, she moved to press her side against his as she deepened the kiss. Something about this was just so right. 

Or it would have been, if Zuko didn't immediately spring to his feet as her shoulder made contact with his. His eyes were wild as he wrapped his arms around his torso again. She looked up at him, utterly bewildered even as the flush of embarrassment colored her cheeks. 

"Oh god, Zuko I'm sorry." She jumped to her feet, uneasy at the sudden height difference between them. Trying and failing to meet his gaze, she choked out a weak laugh. "Well, that was a disaster."

Zuko's stare finally landed back on her face. He seemed to gape at her for a moment, brain short-circuiting, before he sighed quietly and nodded. "Yeah, I guess." 

Katara frowned. "Well don't sound so unsure now, you weren't exactly in a rush to keep going." She warred with herself to keep the anger out of her voice. She lost. "I would know. I WAS THERE. BECAUSE IT JUST HAPPENED."

The fire prince watched her incredulously. "Nope. I'm not responding to that." He turned and started stacking the slices of dead log he had carved. Katara felt her eye twitching.

"Oh no, you ARE going to respond to that."

"Nope. Don't think I am."

"I'm sorry, you too busy playing with your wood?" Katara sneered at him. The firebender whirled on her, and she was shocked by how red his face had become. He spluttered at her.

"WHA... NO! I DIDN'T... YOU CAN'T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT." He looked at her, breathing heavily with frustration. Katara grinned humourlessly at him. 

"Whoops." She shrugged as he let out a frustrated yell. 

Zuko clenched his fists, teeth grinding with the force he was using to keep his mouth shut. Katara noticed a small light emanating from the firebender's torso.

"Hey, Zuko?" Katara hoped her voice sounded as nonchalant as she pictured in her head. 

"WHAT."

"You set yourself on fire?" She pointed towards the growing flame on his rib cage. Zuko squawked indignantly, patting the flames out. When he looked back up at her, his eyebrow was twitching. She just smiled serenely at him. 

He stood seething at her for a few moments before throwing up his hands. Bending quickly, he grabbed a few of the logs and took off at a brisk pace for the temple. 

Katara couldn't help but laugh at the prince's undignified retreat. 

Suki, Sokka, and Haru entered the clearing moments later.  Suki gestured proudly towards the pieces of wood Zuko had cut, instructing the group to grab a few.  Katara rolled her eyes as Suki launched into an explanation of the precision firebending the prince had displayed.  

If she only knew. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad so many people are enjoying this fic, it is a lot of fun to write.  
> I've been tweaking things here and there to add more character to the story and explore some of the cooler people.  
> Expect more Suki, Sokka and Toph.


	23. Aberrant Bending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko explores the potentials of firebending with Druk's help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back?   
> Details in the end notes, if you are interested.   
> Thank you for reading.

Zuko sat in his room, staring at the little pile of rocks in the corner. Druk had been quick to show his displeasure when Zuko had angrily kicked over the pile a few hours ago, and had scrambled annoyingly over the firebender until he had put the rocks back into a respectable pyramid to the dragon's standards. Druk was kind of an asshole, but Zuko was starting to think that might just be a species wide trait. Not that he had any basis for comparison, as he was raising the first dragonling since the start of the 100 year war. At the very least, thinking about the enormity of the responsibility put on his shoulders by the dragon masters was easier than having to think about what had happened in the woods a few days ago. Zuko drew his legs up to his chest, hugging them. He sent a blast of heat towards the rocks, making them sizzle. Druk squeaked with glee, scrambling into the pile and mewling. He watched the haze that hovered above the stones, making the wall behind them slightly blurry. 

He had retreated further back into himself since that day in the forest, and he knew it. He had avoided the group meals more, made himself scarce when anyone tried to come visit him in his seclusion, and had been sure to take the long route to his and Druk's normal sunbathing spot. The sunbathing was getting to be a real issue, it was the only time he could really get the small reptile to calm down, other than firebending at the small creature directly. Zuko was getting tired. Very. Very. Tired. 

His stomach growled, and Druk popped out of the rock den to growl back at it. 

_Great, because I really need someone else mad at me for just existing._

An image of the angry waterbender popped into his head, and he winced. _Traitorous mind._ He had always found Katara attractive, from the very beginning when he had met her incidentally in the Southern Water tribe as he had pursued the avatar. Having her approach him in the woods had been surprising. He was having a difficult time convincing himself that the girl in the woods was the same that had controlled his blood, the same that spat such vitriol at him on a regular basis. Well, he had. Up until things turned sour and he had been so paranoid she'd feel Druk on his shoulder that he had pulled away, which had obviously insulted her.  Then the Katara he knew came out, ready to rip out his throat.   _Can't there be a happy medium?_ That kiss had felt so... confusing. He couldn't resolve his response to her, especially after what she had done his first night here at the temple. He had been completely content knowing she hated him, accepted that she had attacked him because of that hate. Now everything was garbled in his mind. Nothing was true.  _S_ _pirits this is confusing._

Avoiding her was cowardly. Avoiding everyone was solitude. Besides, he had a dragon to tend to. He had the Avatar to train, and a war to help win. There were more monumental things to think about than a kiss in the woods, even one that had controlled him as completely as she had when bending his very blood. He shook his head, trying to get the moment out of his head, but all he could concentrate on was the look in her eyes as she had sidled towards him. Zuko wasn't sure what exactly would have occurred had Druk's scrambling not reminded him that he had much larger things to worry about. Maybe he should get the young dragon something to show his appreciation for helping him from making a catastrophic decision.

Druk scampered out of his rock house, scurrying in circles. 

_Stop reading my mind, jerk._

The little dragon puffed smoke at the firebender with a snort before climbing back up into Zuko's tunic, clinging onto his normal perch.  Zuko groaned as he felt the heat leaving the skin on his shoulder rapidly.

_Stupid little heat leech._  

With a frown, Zuko concentrated on his shoulder, forcing the surrounding skin's heat back into the cold patch. It wasn't instantaneous, but it worked. 

_That's not enough to say I can actually control the temperature though._ The technique had sort of worked in the woods, keeping the log from catching fire. 

The fire prince held a hand in front of his face, glaring at it. Breathing evenly, he used his other hand to pull the heat from his skin. 

Gooseflesh prickled up the back of his wrist and well onto his arm. His fingers turned blue towards the tips.  _Okay, I just bent heat I didn't create._

"I...did it?" Zuko looked down at the moving lump on his shoulder, answered only by a muffled chut. "Think of the possibilities!"

A cold sensation wrapped around the firebender's ankles, and he looked down in shock, startled out of his recent revelation. Tense, Zuko groaned. "Toph, please. Not now." 

Toph walked into his room, smiling. "Wanted to make sure you didn't run away before I got here again, Sparky."

Zuko glared at her.  "I haven't been running away. I just wanted some peace and quiet." He grumbled.

Toph just grinned. "If you are making a face, you know I can't see it, Sparky." She shrugged. "Anyway, I'm here on strict orders. I've been told to retrieve you for dinner." She held up a hand to stop his expected protest. "Apparently you can only miss three in this group before people decide enough is enough and make you socialize." She grinned at his immediate loud sulky huff. "C'mon Princess Hotpants. Can't be that bad." She released his ankles, and waited for him to walk in front of her. It seemed he wasn't getting out of this. Druk wiggled a little on his shoulder and Zuko felt his breath catch. _Calm down._ As long as he could keep Toph from bending, no one should find out about the little lizard. He felt Druk nuzzle against his neck in support. 

The benders walked together down to the courtyard. A resounding whoop met them when they got into everyone's sight. Toph obviously felt his surprise, whispering to him. "You're little tree cutting stunt has been the talk of camp, you know people love bending tricks." She grinned widely as he stilled. "Suki's been bragging about you ever since." Zuko rolled his eyes for his own benefit. "C'mon Sparky, lets drop the act and just eat dinner as a group tonight. You can hide again after." Toph almost sounded sympathetic. The smaller bender never ceased to confuse him.

Zuko huffed again, but nodded. He walked towards the table, sitting closest to the makeshift kitchen they had been using for meal prep. Katara was standing, stirring a pot of boiling liquid over the fire. Suki and Sokka turned on him immediately, trying to drag him into the conversation. 

"Zuko!" Sokka exclaimed. "Tell me about being a noodle."

Confusion flashed across his features immediately, and Suki, being merciful, clarified. 

"What Sokka is TRYING to say, Zuko... is he is really interested in learning acrobatics. He was wondering if you'd teach him." She smirked as Sokka grumbled in frustration before nodding slightly.

The firebender chuckled a little, causing some of the group to stare at him, bemused. "Ah. Yeah, I can teach you." 

Sokka poked out a lip in frustration. "How do you even know to begin with?" 

Zuko hummed softly before answering. "Growing up with Azula taught me the benefit of being able to get away quickly. When Ty-Lee's parents decided to get her lessons, I got her to teach me."

Aang grinned up at him from the other end of the table. "I knew it had to be Ty-Lee!"

Suki smiled, swinging towards her boyfriend. "See Sokka, you don't need to worry about a nation of flippy noodle people."

Sokka scowled. "Doesn't mean it couldn't still be a threat."  

Zuko's eyebrow shot up. "Wait, was that an actual concern?"

Toph shrugged, taking a seat by Zuko.  "You'd be surprised. Sokka, you got any jerky?"

"Do I? Yes. Is it for you? NO." Sokka huffed. 

Toph growled a little, bending a mudball in Sokka's direction. He ducked, and the mudball flew harmlessly by him. 

Katara shouted from over by the soup pot. "TOPH. No mudballs at the table!"

Toph huffed, dropping the second mudball she'd been forming to chuck at Sokka. "FINE." She slammed a foot on the ground, causing the ground under the table to vibrate, knocking over Sokka's chair. 

He sprawled out in the floor, groaning. "Low blow, Toph. Now you REALLY aren't getting my jerky."

The earthbender sat back, not paying attention to Sokka. She had her head tilted in Zuko's direction. "You smuggling a boar-rabbit as a pet under that tunic, Sparky?"

Zuko turned towards Toph, eyes wide but voice calm. "What makes you ask that?"

Her eyebrow quirked up, disappearing completely under her bangs. "Cause you definitely have an extra heartbeat in there."

Sokka jerked from his place on the ground, giggling loudly. "MAYBE HE'S PREGNANT."

Several things happened in the space of a few seconds. Everyone went dead silent, attention swinging towards Zuko. Katara, in the process of carrying the pot of soup towards the group stumbled, tripping over her prone brother. The boiling contents of the pot went flying through the air, drenching Zuko. Katara screamed helplessly, eyes wide as the liquid covered Zuko from head to toe. Shouts erupted from the table. Zuko, not wanting to get another burn scar on his face, reacted instinctively, harnessing his bending to pull the heat away from the soup, away from his face. The liquid slowly crystallized on his skin. He brushed the icy sheen off his face, uncomfortable with the sudden cool sensation. He sighed a little with relief when he realized, other than being a little cold and soup covered, he was fine. He also realized, looking up quickly, that everyone was suddenly silent again, staring at him in shock.

The table exploded with questions all at once. 

"WHAT THE F...."

"DID YOU JUST BEND WATER?"

"IS THAT ICE?"

"WAS THAT ALL THE SOUP? NOW WHAT ARE WE GOING TO EAT!"

Zuko paled, and gulped. His shoulder was shaking a little more than necessary, so he pushed heat back into his shoulder, melting the ice that had settled on his tunic. Zuko quietly thanked Teo as he rolled forward. He raised a hand to the firebender's head, touching the ice crystals slowly melting into his hair. 

"I don't think this is waterbending, guys." The young inventor rolled towards the pot, looking at it for a second before turning back to the confused group. "So, fire is really just, extreme heat and combustable gases, right? So I think he bent the heat out of the soup?"

Zuko reached back to rub his neck, face reddening, but someone grabbed his hand. He looked up into Katara's face, his mouth going dry. 

"You continue to surprise me, Zuko." She said quietly. 

Aang piped up, "Have you always been able to do that?"

The firebender's mouth felt dry. "Uh, no. It's been a recent um discovery that I could do it on purpose."

"So you've done it by accident?" Katara prodded.

Zuko caught her gaze. "I, uhm. Not to this extent, just little things that I thought were normal for firebenders."

"That's how you kept the wood from going up in flames the other day, isn't it? You didn't just cut it with precision bending, you manipulated the temperature." She looked at him with something akin to wonder, and it made him feel very uncomfortable. He was suddenly overwhelmingly aware of the bits of mushroom and fire scallions stuck to his hair.

"That's the gist of it, I guess." He mumbled, breaking eye contact, brushing a hand over his head. Katara continued to stare at him for several seconds before turning, and starting to prepare another broth. "I just had this thought, maybe it was possible, so I tried it out. Not a big deal though."

Zuko looked down at his hands. Teo piped up, babbling. "You know it makes sense though! Dad told me once that cold doesn't actually exist. It's just the absence of heat. If the root of firebending is heat and energy oriented, firebending and waterbending are a lot closer than we ever thought!" 

Zuko laughed humorlessly to himself, as Teo launched into an enthusiastic comparison of all bending types. He sat in silence, listening to the rest of the group talking excitedly about the potential applications of 'heatbending'. 

When Zuko finally managed to duck out of the pavilion and head back to his quarters, he could feel Toph's attention on him. 

He'd have to be more careful from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Remember when I said "I'll be posting to this at least once a week?"   
> Yeah.   
> I still plan on doing that, but I've only just been able to get back to this fic.   
> Over the past few weeks I've had a few deaths in my family and my attention has been elsewhere as I've dealt with those losses.   
> I've wanted to come back to this fic for awhile, but I just haven't been in the right head space.  
> I'll get back into a decent swing of things shortly, so I'll probably come back and edit this later, but I wanted to get something up.
> 
> Thank you guys for your patience.


	24. Unconventional Body Bending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Close quarters make secrets hard to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last year was a disaster, but I promise I have not abandoned my sweet mischievous dragon. I hope this update comes as a pleasant surprise to my subscribers. I have most of this written out, but decided to tweak things a bit to add a bit more comedy and character development. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and thank you for sticking with this story even through my horrendous hiatus.
> 
> I'm in a much better place now, and can finally get back to the things I enjoy.

Sokka slid down the stone wall, sweat drenching every inch of his exposed skin. "Dude, I'm not sure I can take much more of this." He brought an arm up, wiping his forehead. The aforementioned arm also being coated in sweat did a whole lot of nothing to help the situation. Frowning, Sokka glared up at the trio staring down at him, smirks clear on their stupid faces. 

"Sokka, I thought you wanted us to be prepared for the inevitable fire noodle military tactics?" Suki asked, pivoting from the balls of her feet to her heels in time with her sing-song cajoling. "This sort of attitude is exactly the reason they will catch us off guard!" Suki dropped her hand, palm up and extended towards Sokka.

Sokka eyed it suspiciously before crossing his arms with a huff, leaving Suki to shrug and nudge the man beside her with one of her sharp ass elbows. Zuko, to his credit, did not wince. If Sokka had not been impressed with the guy already, that would have been the action that won him over. Suki had to be sharpening her elbows when she maintained her fan blades, those things were lethal. Sokka swiveled his glare to Zuko, waiting for more mocking.

"Listen, It doesn't matter to me whether or not you learn how to do," Zuko grimaced for a moment before twitching his fingers to mime air quotes "flips 'n' shit, but you literally begged me non-stop to come out here and teach you."  Zuko shrugged awkwardly, dropping his hands. "I would say I don't mind, but I am definitely doing this against my will, so that would be a lie." The firebender crossed his arms widely and purposefully across his chest.

"You aren't here against your will!" Aang piped up from beside him, perched on his usual air scooting bubble. "You said 'Sure, this is better than the alternative."

Zuko scowled, cutting his eyes at the over enthusiastic air bender. "Of course I did. Do you even remember the options I was given?"

Aang twisted his face in thought for a minute before grinning. "It was this or hmmm, helping Katara and Haru with laundry."

Zuko rolled his eyes away from Aang's misplaced exuberance. "Yeah, real tempting. The last thing I want to do is be around Katara and water and Haru and his moon eyes."

Sokka snorted, picking a dirt glob off his pants leg. "No kidding. That whole situation is painful to watch. He could probably carve her a necklace and she wouldn't get the hint."

Suki frowned slightly, chin caught in her hand. "You'd think he would pick up on the lack of response too, she's not the only oblivious one there."

"Yeah, well Katara wouldn't know what to do with herself if she did pick up on what he was throwing down. I've never seen her interested in anyone. Ever." Sokka rolled to his knees, slowly stretching as he got to his feet. "Now me on the other hand, I've always had a way with the ladies." He wiggles his eyebrows in possibly the most sexy way known to mankind, eliciting a dramatic eyeroll from his girlfriend as he drops an arm around her shoulder.

"Oh yeah, real charmer." Suki snorts, leaning into him. "But you're wrong." She says, her sing songy voice back. "Katara has definitely had the hots for someone before." Sokka shot her an incredulous look. There was no way his stubborn little sister got her head out of her butt long enough to notice someone.

"REALLY?" Aang, who had been practically vibrating with irritation for the majority of the conversation, piped up. Sokka had the urge to wince again. 

Suki gulped, eyeing the jittery air bender with some worry. "Hah. No. Not really, I'm just messing with Sokka, since he can't seem to mind his own business."

"Knew it." Sokka grinned, snapping his fingers. "You can't pull one over on me." He swung his self satisfied smile towards his girlfriend, earning an annoyed groan as she slapped her forehead with her hand.

"Can I go back to my room now?" Zuko asked, looking anywhere but at the group. 

"What, no!" Sokka scrambled over to him. "You're going to teach me to do flips 'n' shit!"

"I thought you were tired, why don't we just take a break!" Zuko asked, forced smile on his face as he tried to back away from the other three. "I'll just go do some not water related chores, and you can find me later!"

"Nuh uh, jerkbender." Sokka latched an arm around Zuko's neck, effectively stopping his retreat. "I was just tired, but now I'm fine. Second wind, the warrior way!" 

"Wonderful."

* * *

"OKAY. We have GOT to try something different." Zuko winced, rubbing at a sore spot where Sokka's wild flailing had connected solidly with his temple. He felt like they had been at this unsuccessfully for hours. Suki, sensible and appropriately concerned for her own well being had long bowed out of the training, which was fine as she had picked up the techniques with little to no issue. Aang's interest in acrobatics had lasted for all of ten minutes after their conversation earlier, before he had been whizzing off to find the waterbender in question. 

Sokka was nothing if not determined. Zuko had the bruises to prove it. Druk had quickly decided these activities were best not observed at all, and had attached himself to the base of Zuko's spine, largely out of the way of flailing limbs and inevitable pain. Zuko had to constantly remind himself to bend heat back into his body, as Druk was happy enough sapping it all away. The occasional tingling of numbing skin would quickly remind the firebender, but the immediate and intensely uncomfortable prickling sensation when heat returned to the area had him trying to avoid the aching pain and head the issue off before it got too bad. Cold was unfamiliar territory for Zuko. It was hard to work on anything when he felt so disconnected from his internal fire.

Hmm, that was a thought.

"Sokka, go get your sword." He muttered, almost to himself. 

Sokka hopped to his feet, energy seemingly flooding back into his body as his eyes danced with delight. "Ooooh. We gonna Sword bend?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "We are still not calling it swordbending." 

"Yeah but you just diiiiiiid." Sokka chanted, running to retrieve his weapon before hurrying back.

"Okay, I want you to drop into your stance." Zuko furrowed his brow as Sokka did as he was told, confused expression clear on his face. Zuko paced closer to him, eyeing him carefully before pushing hard on his shoulder. Sokka grunted as he fell back, but quickly tucked his frame into a roll that let him pop back to his feet, sword raised.

"What the hell man? We gonna duel or what?" 

Zuko spun away, eyes searching before he saw what he was looking for. He quickly grabbed the wooden rod and came back to a very confused Sokka. The warrior opened his mouth to question, but Zuko struck before he could form his words, sweeping the rod towards the back of Sokka's knees. Sokka pulled his knees in as he jumped, eyes wide as he tried to clear the makeshift weapon. 

"The fuck, dude. Stop messing with me and train me!"

"Do it again, but throw yourself backwards." Zuko snapped, staring wide-eyed at Sokka before swinging the weapon at his knees. 

"SHIT." Sokka jumped up, narrowly missing the stick and leaned backwards with his jump, expecting to land on his ass. Instead his back hit Zuko's outstretched arm, pushing him the rest of the way over, and he landed on his feet.

Zuko met Sokka's gaze, grinning for the first time that day. "Okay, I can work with this." 

Suki clapped from her perch on the nearby wall. "He'll make a flippy noodle person out of you yet, babe!"

Zuko couldn't stop himself from smiling as his friend processed what had happened. Not even Druk digging his claws into his side as the little dragon situated himself nestled against the soft skin of his stomach could damper his mood.

"So Snoozles is trying out for the fire nation noodle army now?" A new voice rang out, and all traces of a smile fled from Zuko's features as he gulped nervously.

Sokka spun around, a giant grin plastered on his face. "Toph! Did you see that?!"

Toph's eyebrow arched before she responded. "Oh yeah. Best form I've ever seen."

Sokka's smile grew exponentially before wilting. "I hate it when you do that." He mumbled, glaring at the ground.

Toph grinned in his direction. "You just make it so easy." She stood for a moment, before walking towards the wall to strike up a conversation with Suki.

Sokka glared at the small earthbender for a few moments before shrugging. "I can't even be mad. I'm too pumped." He turned his attention back to Zuko, elbow nudging the firebender's side. "Looks like you aren't a crappy teacher after all."

Even with his sudden desperation to be anywhere but here, Zuko scowled in response, arms crossed petulantly over his chest. "I'm teaching the Avatar, Sokka. I hope I'm a decent teacher." 

Sokka shrugged. "Jury was still out." He grinned, elbowing Zuko goadingly in his ribs again. The firebender leaned away, glaring at him. "But now, now you have proven yourself, and I will become a master body-bender, as well as a master sword-bender!" 

"We are NOT calling it body-bending, Sokka!" Zuko huffed, hands fisting exasperatedly in his own hair. 

"Sure, buddy!" Sokka grinned, elbowing Zuko again as he turned, landing this one in his stomach. 

_*Drrrrrrrrrrrhhgl*_

Sokka swung back to stare blankly at Zuko. "Did you just growl at me, jerkbender?" 

"Nope, that was just my stomach, I am starving after all those workouts." Zuko avoided eye contact, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of his tunic.

Sokka squinted at him, a curious expression crossing his features. "You've mostly been telling me what to do. Besides, you haven't even broken a sweat." 

"It's been a long day." Zuko replied, fishing for something that would get him out of the pavilion and back in the safety of his room. "I'm tired, maybe I should just head to bed."

"It isn't even noon yet. Seriously man, what is up with you." Sokka looked him up and down, concern showing through his skeptical glare. "You've been sleeping more than I do, you barely spend any time with us, you eat an insane amount of food..." Sokka shook his head. "It doesn't make sense." 

A whizzing noise nearby alerted the two to the approach of the Avatar.

"Maybe it's puberty!" Aang piped up, dropping to his feet lightly. "Gyatso told me all about it, when he was in charge of my training. Apparently your voice gets all deep and you get extra hairy." Aang quieted for a moment, pondering. "Gyatso said it was a great trial for monks." His eyes narrowed for a moment, and Zuko and Sokka shared an awkward look. Aang snapped his fingers suddenly. "It's probably because we have to stay bald! That's a lot of shaving." He looked up expectantly to the other two. "So you think it could be puberty, Zuko?"

Zuko stared pointedly at the roof of the temple, wishing he could be literally anywhere but here. There were some nice chasms in the earth kingdom he would love to throw himself into, the one a few feet away seemed too obvious, and Aang would probably use his glider and just catch him before he hit the ground. He should probably find Druk a nice volcano to live in first, instead of taking the baby dragon over the edge with him. Druk would really like a volcano. All that extra heat, maybe he could even keep one from erupting and killing thousands of people. 

"Zuko?" Aang forced a gust underneath himself so he could float upwards towards Zuko's face.

Zuko steadfastly ignored him in favor of planning his list of last wishes.

"Um. Earth to Sifu Hotman?" The young monk waved a hand wildly in front of the firebender's face before looking quizzically at Sokka. "Why does his face look like he's trying to combustion bend?"

Suki and Toph, having long since tabled their conversation in favor of witnessing the disaster that was happening only a few feet away, sidled over, both failing to smother their laughter.

Aang bit his lip, before sighing. "Zuko, I'm pretty sure you have to have one of those weird eye marks for that to work."

Zuko's glare finally left the ceiling as he swung an incredulous gaze towards the Avatar, instead catching Suki's devilish smile. 

"I dunno, Aang." Suki started, eyes not leaving Zuko's, no matter how pleading his look was. "He looks a little flushed. Might have a fever?"

"Oh man, I didn't even think of that!" Aang pondered for a bit. "I could go get Katara, she's way better at healing than I am. Last time I tried it on Momo he wouldn't stop sneezing for a week!"

Zuko's eyes widened as far as his scar would allow. "That's not necessary, Aang. I'm fine!!"

"Thank spirits for that!" Aang said happily before dropping his voice in a faux whisper. "So you think it's the puberty, then?"

Zuko spun on his heel, running out of there as quickly as possible as everyone else snorted from ill contained laughter. As horrible as that conversation was to endure, he couldn't help but be thankful for that horrid distraction, and how it had effectively removed him from the situation he had stumbled into.

He pretended not to notice Toph's attention on him as he left, her head swiveling so her ears could track his movement, her face impassive.

He was almost successful.

 


	25. Turning a Blind Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes casual observation isn't enough.

Katara was ecstatic, and relatively oblivious to everyone else's sheer annoyance towards the situation at hand. Toph scoffed, listening to the waterbender giggle and laugh, twirling around in the unsheltered pavilion. Usually she was pretty apathetic to her friend's exuberance, but this time it was to her own disadvantage so it was hard to stop her arms from crossing in front of her chest, distaste plain on her face. Toph was conflicted about the rainy season. On the one hand, water helped make gooier mud, which was great for slinging at the unsuspecting lily livers she shared camp with. On the other hand, the constant dripping and plopping of raindrops decreased her overall awareness of her surroundings. Sure, the variation of sounds helped when navigating around the air temple without having to constantly seismically sense where she was, but the nuances were lost with the literal flood of sound to her senses. It certainly didn't help that Katara was laughing every five minutes, spinning with reckless abandon in the downpour. If the rain wasn't blocking her more sensitive hearing, Katara's loud-ass footfalls were.  And every time the waterbender took a moment to play in the rain, Twinkletoes was never far behind. 

Toph grunted, frustrated with the pair of them. From her location close to the wall, she kept herself out of the main downpour, but was occasionally in the splash zone of their bending war. It wasn't that she had a problem with the goofing off. Toph considered herself an expert in the field of goofing off - heck,she had practically invented it - but recent events regarding a certain hot head had Toph trying to pay closer attention to her surroundings than normal, and this stupid rain was getting in her way. It certainly wasn't getting easier the longer she sat against the wall, if anything the rain was coming down harder than it had been just a few minutes ago. The missing ceiling from this part of the temple only added to her frustration.

Pushing herself off the ground with the help of a little earthbending, Toph decided to take a walk. Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes were bending water balls at each other now, and the last thing she wanted was to lose the thick layer of dirt she had so meticulously built on her person from a stray splash. With a huff she set off away from the bustle of the campsite, leaving a large majority of the group to her back. For a bunch of pansies, they weren't too bad, the ragtag bunch they had collected on the journey. Some of them, Aang, Katara, Chit Sang, and Haru in particular, were a little too sensitive around the edges, but not everyone can be perfect. She had been surprised but pleased with the unlikely friends she had found in Suki and the Duke, happy to find others with just the right level of grit. Even Hakoda, Snoozles and Sugar Queen's dad, hadn't been too bad and she was usually very wary around old people. Some of the group still confused her. Teo was almost as enthusiastic as Twinkletoes when it came to flying, which was completely unnatural and unnecessary. And Sparky was...

Sparky was the most erratic and confusing person she had ever met. Toph frowned, thinking harder about the confusing fire dork. _He's clearly hiding something._ At first she'd just figured his weird behavior was due to whatever awkward thing existed between him and Sugar Queen, but even away from her he acted like a complete idiot. In fact, every time Toph wandered over to hang out in the vicinity of Sparky, his behavior would get even weirder, and he started jumping around like a fool. Even without using her seismic sense, she had heard his heart beat increase drastically whenever she had approached. Maybe it wasn't Katara, causing him so much stress.

"Oh, that Dunderhead!" Toph exclaimed, eyes wide. Carefully orienting herself listening to the echoes of rain falling around the temple, she set off towards Zuko's room. "I can't believe this. I thought I could wait a few years before having to deal with dumb boys, but somehow I'm surrounded by them." She mumbled to herself, feet moving carefully across the stone floor, sending out vibrations with every footfall to keep from running into walls. Finally under some decent cover of the temple corridors, the rain was less overwhelming to her senses, allowing her to make her way quickly to the hall nearest the Prince's room. She stopped short, sending out her seismic sense, feeling the feedback from the heartbeats coming from his quarters.  _Time to figure out what is going on with this dummy._ Toph bent the earth in a cone around the form of the prince, entrapping all but his head in the earth before she walked around the corner.

"Sup, Sparky!" She started cheerfully, leaning on the frame of the door. This close she didn't even need her earth bending to feel the subtle vibrations his racing heartbeat made. "I think it's time we talk."

* * *

Zuko gulped, eyes wide on his captor.  _You have got to be kidding me._ He could feel Druk wiggling around, slowly waking up from where he had been slumbering on his shoulder. Zuko willed him to be still, hoping Toph would be too busy talking to notice the scrambling reptile. Which she was doing. Now. Still. Zuko forced himself to tune back in, trying to discern what she was talking about.

"Don't worry so much, Sparky." Toph dug a pinky in her ear, the picture of nonchalance. Maybe he was safe.

"I know you've been desperate to keep this from me."  _Okay scratch that._ He was definitely in trouble. Zuko gulped, glancing down at the wiggling dragon trying to make his way out of the earthen embrace around Zuko's neck. Toph grinned in Zuko's direction. "If anything, I gotta say, I'm flattered." Zuko's worried expression fell in confusion for a moment, before flickering back as she continued. "Not every day someone gets the attention of royalty." 

_What in Agni's name is she going on about?_

"But I gotta be honest. I think you're a little old for me." The young earthbender shrugged. "Maybe in a few years."

"WHAT." Zuko felt his jaw drop, confusion traded for utter mortification. 

"You know I can feel your heartbeat, right?" Toph had pulled dirt from the floor and was absent-mindedly  bending a mud ball between her hands. "I know how much it races when I enter a room."

"Eeegh." Zuko was at a loss.  _Should I play into this? Act like she's right?_ Zuko gulped again, trying to form a coherent thought. "Eeegh."

"Eloquent. Not that I can expect much else, in the presence of greatness like mine." Toph grinned at him. "Don't feel bad. I am pretty awesome."

Zuko could feel his face getting red. He had a feeling that if he had been out in the rain, steam would be flowing off of him at this point. "Eeeeeghh." From his chest, Druk was getting more and more agitated. Apparently the extra heat was only increasing the dragon's interest in extricating himself from his temporary restraints. "I... Uh." Druk was digging against the dirt, slowly making progress. Zuko made a split second decision. "YEP." He laughed humorlessly. "YEAH, YOU GUESSED IT."

"HAH! I thought..."Toph's blank gaze narrowed. "Wait, you're lying." She turned to face him completely, hand raised, a gentle vibration resonating from the ground beneath him. "You're still hiding someth…" Toph's whole body went rigid as all of her attention went to the earth surrounding the firebender. "You got Momo in there, Sparky?" She asked, feeling the slow fall of crumbling dirt off the cone in front of his chest. Zuko winced, wide eyed as Druk burst out of the dirt, proudly chutting as he scrambled up onto the firebender's scalp.

"Holy mother of dirtballs." Toph's mouth was wide open, shock frozen on her face. "I'm going to go ahead and assume that is not Momo."

Zuko glanced up at the chuttering dragon before sighing. "Okay. Um." He started eloquently before grunting, struggling to extricate an arm from the dirt pile still confining him. Without a word, Toph let the dirt crumble around him, head cocked to the side as she struggled to listen. 

"What. What is it Zuko?" She gulped, slowly pacing towards the firebender.

Druk dropped to his shoulder, stretching out and bumping his head against the little earthbender's hand. Her clouded eyes widened as she gently ran her fingers over his scaly head.

Zuko sighed, drawing his knees up to his chest. "You remember my rock?"

"This is your rock?" Toph raised an eyebrow.

"This is my rock." Zuko gulped, trying to force the lump out of his throat, before he continued, mouth dry. Druk turned and chutted at him angrily, so Zuko continued. "Well, okay, not my rock." Druk jerked his head down sternly before swinging back towards Toph's tentative petting.

"So the rock was an egg, Sparky I'm not an idiot." Toph huffed, relaxing a little to pet the small reptile with more enthusiasm. "What is it though?"

Zuko grabbed Druk, nudging Toph to sit on the bed behind them. She complied and Zuko unceremoniously dropped Druk in her lap, where he curled up happily. The young earth bender felt slowly over the small creature, trying to place the shape.

Druk took the opportunity to burp a small flame at Toph, making her jaw almost unhinge with how quickly it fell open.

"Meet Druk, my dragon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been waiting for this moment for awhile. I decided pretty early on that I wouldn't be able to keep it from Toph for long without it straining credulity. 
> 
> Letting her in on Zuko's lil secret gives me the opportunity to have her awkwardly helping, which I think Toph is perfectly suited for...plus Druk needs someone who doesn't regard him with complete and utter reverence at all times. And Zuko needs to chill.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! I've finished the first 'book' of this series already, and am planning on posting a couple chapters every few days while I work on the next section. Please let me know what you think, and I apologize if you find any egregious mistakes. I'm always open to ideas, even with this work being mostly complete, I'd love to know the direction other people see this going after we leave the Western Air Temple.


End file.
